Hydrocarbon Deposits Newly Located in 2002 Contain 1.6 Billion Tonnes of Equivalent Fuel

The promising hydrocarbon deposits newly located in 2002 contain 1.6 billion tonnes of equivalent fuel. The press service of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia quoted Maksut Zinnatulin, the head of the Department of Accounting, Analysis, Development, and the Planning of Prospecting of the ministry as saying so. Mr. Zinnatulin said the figure was 10 times that for the whole previous decade.

Besides, Mr. Zinnatulin further said, the situation with discovering new deposits of chromium, manganese, lead, copper, nickel, cobalt, wolfram, and some other ores had also improved. The State Geological Service of the ministry sees the preparation of state programmes concerning the extraction of various minerals as its primary objective for the year 2003.