RS Brief news Oil reserves no longer a state secret

Oil reserves no longer a state secret

September 2013

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An order to the effect that the Russian Federation's oil reserves are no longer to be a state secret has been signed by Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Oil, and the gases contained in it, have been removed from the list of useful minerals, information about the reserves of which constitutes a state secret. "There are foreign investors in Russia's fuel and energy complex, and Russia's companies go through international audits, so this kind of secrecy is clearly an anachronism," the Russian president Vladimir Putin observed.

As of January 1, 2012Russia's oil reserves amount to 17.8 billion tonnes in the C1* category and 10.2 billion tonnes in the C2 category. Reserves of gas amount to 48.8 trillion cubic m in the C1 category and 19.6 trillion cubic m in the C2 category. This data was announced by the Russian Federation's Minister of Natural Resources Sergei Donskoi. He added that this was the first set of data to be officially announced, after the cancellation of the top secret status.

The Minister noted that the resource potential for the aforementioned fossil fuels remained among the highest in the world. "I'm convinced that by disclosing this data we will give a powerful boost to investment in the extraction and re-use of hydrocarbons," Mr Donskoi emphasized.

For reference:

Russia is the world's leading country in terms of gas supplies. In terms of oil supplies the Russian Federation trails Venezuela and the states in the Persian Gulf. Russia is second in terms of oil extraction, behind Saudi Arabia. The Russian Federation is second in terms of gas extraction, behind the USA.

According to experts from the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, the current reserves of hydrocarbon will be able to meet the needs of Russia's economy for the next 30 years. Moreover, thanks to intensive geological surveying in recent years, growth in reserves of fossil fuels has steadily been exceeding levels of extraction, the Minister noted. 49 sources were discovered last year.

*ะก1 covers sources that have been prospected in outline, calculated by means of extrapolating data about known deposits;
C2 covers reserves that have subjected to a preliminary assessment. RS