MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/. The Russian Arctic continental shelf contains more than 85 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 17 bln metric tons of oil, Head of Federal Agency for Subsoil Management Evgeny Petrov said on Monday.
"Russia’s Arctic continental shelf has more than 85 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 17 bln metric tons of oil. This is a strategic reserve in the development of the mineral resource base of the Russian Federation," he said.
Petrov noted that only medium and small oil and gas fields have been discovered on land in recent years. "At the same time, enormous unique oil and gas resources were put on the state balance based on the results of exploratory activity on the shelf, despite the fact that we say our exploration balance has already been exhausted," he said.
Evgeny Petrov emphasized the importance of continuing geological work on the Arctic shelf as an essential and necessary area. According to him, extensive seismic research has been conducted in the Laptev Sea, East Siberian Sea, and Chukchi Sea.
Russia’s Ambassador-at-Large, Chairman of the Committee of the Arctic Council Nikolay Korchunov said earlier that refusing oil and gas produced in the Arctic could lead to larger shocks to the global energy market than those currently seen in Europe.
"Rejecting Arctic oil and gas in general is fraught with the danger of compromising the stability of the global energy market, and could result in far more catastrophic shocks than those currently being experienced in the European energy industry. It is evident that we must not take the path of arbitrary constraints on oil and gas production, but rather the one that ensures its long-term viability," he said.