MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. Hundreds of solid mineral deposits and dozens of oil and gas fields may be discovered in Russia this year, head of the Federal Agency for Mineral Resources (Rosnedra) Oleg Kazanov said in an interview with TASS.
"These will be dozens of new hydrocarbon deposits and hundreds of solid mineral deposits," he said.
The agency head described the discovery of deposits as a creative process. "We do not have a plan for discovering deposits, just as an artist does not have a plan for painting a picture. It is still a creative process. We will discover as many as we discover, although we roughly understand the statistics," Kazanov explained.
Following geological exploration in 2025, a total of 317 deposits of solid minerals and hydrocarbons were added to Russia’s state balance sheet, the Russian Natural Resources Ministry reported earlier. Discoveries were made across the country, from central Russia to Siberia, the Far East and the Arctic. Of the total 317 deposits, 276 were solid minerals and 41 were hydrocarbons.
The increase in Russia’s reserves in 2025 totaled 640 mln tons of oil and condensate and 670 bln cubic meters of gas. The total increase in balance reserves amounted to 614 tons of gold, 3 mln tons of copper, 938.1 mln tons of coal and 984.2 mln tons of iron ore.