B) Has the situation changed since 1995? Prove your point of view

... oil and gas industries of... former USSR were one of... very few industrial success stories of the final years of... Soviet regime. Today, those same industries, now operating within... CIS, are in deep crises. Production and exports of... sector's two key products – oil and gas – fell by almost... half between 1989 and 1994. It's not all bad news, of course: over... first eight months of 1995,... rate of decline in fuel and energy production was less than... 2% per cent compared to... last year. Equally dramatic changes are yet to come as... Russia and... CIS countries shift to... market economy.

Major Western oil companies, however, have been moving away from... Russia because of... risks involved: unfriendly tax regimes,... uncertain political climate, financial problems and... problems of negotiating with local, regional and central authorities. Last but not least, comes the difficulty of repatriating profits. According to... official fuel and energy ministry figures, as of January 1, 1995, Russia had 1,910 oil fields and 410 gas fields, of which 1,020 are commercially operated, accounting for 72 per cent of all... reserves. 50.4 per cent of these reserves have already been worked out....oil was first produced commercially in... Russia in 1864.

Based on: European Businessman

Words you may need:

CIS – Commonwealth of Independent States Содружество независимых государств (СНГ)

rate of decline темпы сокращения (производства)

equally adv равно, в равной степени

dramatic changes разительные изменения

shift to a market economy переход к рыночной экономике

tax regime налоговый режим

authorities власти

to repatriate profits вывозить прибыль

to account for (зд.) составлять