Russia running out of oil? Profitable reserves may last only another 20 years, Moscow says, citing improved tech as only solution
Speaking to journalists at an oil and gas conference in the Siberian city of Tyumen on Wednesday, the acting head of the Federal Agency for Mineral Resources, Evgeny Petrov, said the supply of black gold is far from never-ending. According to him, “profitable reserves [of oil] will last for around 20 or 21 years.”
If Moscow wants to retain its status as one of the world’s largest sellers of crude oil, it will have to invest in new technologies to explore and tap deposits that are harder to access, Petrov said. He went on to add that there could be vast, untapped riches under the soil in Western Siberia. “Extraction is still ongoing here, and there is potential for it to go on for many, many years,” the official claimed.
Earlier this summer, statistics published by the Russian government showed the country’s economy was becoming less and less dependent on barreling oil and pumping gas. In the first part of this year, the energy sector made up only around 15% of the country’s official gross domestic product, down from nearly 20% the year before, with manufacturing, chemicals, and heavy industry making up the difference.In January, output of the coveted petrochemical plunged to the lowest level amid turmoil over international energy markets, with oil prices falling by an unprecedented margin as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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