Russia possesses significant reserves of minerals, many of which are exported and bring substantial income to the state budget. A particularly valuable resource is oil, the production of which is growing from year to year. In this regard, many are interested in what are the reserves of Russian oil. Will they be enough to meet the country's needs for this hydrocarbon raw material for the next decades?
How much oil is in Russia
Economic statistics say that more and more oil is produced in Russia from year to year. It is not uncommon to come across forecasts of specialists who warn that if the rates of oil production observed today remain unchanged, it will only last for the next two decades. To what extent do these calculations correspond to reality?
Those who argue that oil reserves will soon run out, proceed from the fact that today the main deposits of hydrocarbon raw materials have already been explored. However, no one can rule out that in the near future world oil needs will decrease or other ways of developing those oil fields that are considered unprofitable today will be found.
Some researchers believe that Russia's oil reserves are at least 60 billion barrels, or almost 13% of the world's proven reserves.
What do the official sources of Russia itself say? In July 2013, the Russian government released some of the previously closed data on oil reserves in the country, which could make Russia more attractive in the eyes of investors. It turned out that at the beginning of January 2012, these reserves amounted to about 18 billion tons (112 billion barrels) for oil category ABC1, as well as about 11 billion tons (almost 69 billion barrels) for oil category C2. In terms of known oil reserves and production, Russia remains among the leaders, firmly occupying the third place in the world and second only to Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.
In the future - the discovery and development of new deposits
It should be borne in mind that analytical reviews usually include only proven oil reserves that have passed the appropriate international audit. Meanwhile, experts in the field of hydrocarbon production know that not all possible areas of the location of deposits have been investigated and registered.
Of course, one should not discount the fact that undiscovered deposits may be located in hard-to-reach places where it will be very difficult to extract oil. In fact, no specialist can reliably determine how many new fields are destined to be discovered in the future.
At present, the Arctic and Sakhalin shelves are practically not explored, where significant oil reserves are expected to be discovered.
International experts generally agree that in terms of its potential oil reserves, Russia is second only to Venezuela and individual states of the Middle East, although they do not trust the official Russian statistics too much, considering the figures given by the government to be overestimated. Nevertheless, the assessments of representatives of international oil concerns should be treated with caution, since it is possible that interested experts are trying to influence the market of such valuable raw materials with their forecasts.
