Russia Bolsters Strategic Resource Reserves
In the current year, Russia has identified 30 new oil and gas deposits. The largest among them are located in the Caspian Sea’s shelf and in the Orenburg region.
One of the standout discoveries is the R.U. Maganov deposit in the Caspian Sea, unearthed by the employees of Lukoil. The reserves at this deposit are estimated to exceed 8 million tons of oil and 136 billion cubic meters of gas. In the Orenburg region, specialists from Gazprom Neft discovered the slightly smaller-sized V.P. Orlov deposit with reserves of 7.5 million tons of oil.
Forecasts anticipate an increase of 470 million tons in oil reserves and 630 billion cubic meters in gas reserves. Interestingly, the expenses for geological exploration turned out to be lower than expected, totaling 63 billion rubles instead of the projected 78.5 billion.
It’s worth noting that OPEC has raised its forecast for oil production in Russia for the upcoming year, predicting the launch of several new deposits in the country by 2024.
Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexey Danichev