In an interview with the Tass news agency, Russian Deputy Energy Minister Dmitry Islamov stated that the country’s current coal reserves will last for the next 500-600 years.
“We will have enough coal for 500-600 years at the current extraction rate. And if we continue exploration, we will certainly have enough reserves for the next 1,000 years,” Islamov said. The Deputy Minister believes that the world will continue to use coal as an energy source despite the “green agenda” and the opinion of some global experts that coal will soon disappear from the energy balance.
“Our view is that we will always use coal as an energy source because it can become completely clean in terms of environmental or climate protection,” he stated.
Beyond coal, Russia also possesses many other significant natural resources with large reserves.
According to the “Russian Energy Strategy until 2050” report, approved by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in May, Russia has over 31 billion tons of proven oil reserves, enough for more than 65 years of extraction at current capacity.
The country also has large untapped resources to maintain oil and condensate production at no less than 540 million tons per year and to deploy reserve capacity to respond flexibly to changes in global demand.
Regarding natural gas, Russia leads the world with 63.4 trillion cubic meters of reserves and is the second-largest producer, contributing 16% of global output. The report indicates that current reserves will be sufficient for 100 years of production.
Russia is also a “major player” in the uranium sector with reserves of 705,000 tons, ranking fourth globally and accounting for 5% of global production.