Oil Reserves In Russia Will Meet Demand For Next 59 Years - Environment Minister

Reserves of oil and natural gas are expected to meet Russia's demand for the next 59 and 103 years, respectively, at current production levels, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Alexander Kozlov said in an interview with Russia's RBC media group published on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th May, 2021) Reserves of oil and natural gas are expected to meet Russia's demand for the next 59 and 103 years, respectively, at current production levels, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Alexander Kozlov said in an interview with Russia's RBC media group published on Tuesday.

"With the existing production level, all oil reserves are adequate for 59 years, natural gas � 103 years. But we understand that this is the overall volume. Somewhere, there are deposits that are being released, and there are those that have not yet received full load," Kozlov said, pointing to the need to develop geological exploration, including in hard-to-reach places.

The minister went on to say that maintaining the prime cost of developing hard-to-recover oil was rather difficult due to the cost of the final product, as foreign partners refrain from using certain technologies.

"But the development of technologies in Russia contributes to creating new jobs because a lot of people work in the industry, not only in production and processing but also in related fields, such as oilfield services. And the state helps our companies by taking on some of the obligations, for example, those related to geological exploration. In this case, companies spend more on recovering reserves, which means they increase tax revenue for the budget," the official added.

Russia's Rosnedra mineral resources agency last month said that the country's recoverable oil reserves would be adequate for the next 58 years at the current output level, but cost-effective reserves will last only 19 years.