Natural Resources Ministry: Russia Should Explore Arctic's Oil

Russia should consider oil and gas extraction from Arctica's continental shelf, said Deputy Natural Resources Minister Ivan Glumov at a press conference today. Siberia has been Russia's most important oil and gas field for years and its oil resources are 49% exhausted. As the Deputy Minister pointed out, about 35% of oil production in the world, more than a billion tons a day, come from continental shelves. The geological resources of Russia's continental shelf have been estimated at 133 billion tons of oil and 80 trillion cubic meters of gas. One of the most recent trends in modern oil production has been more extensive exploration of sea fields.