MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. The Arctic zone’s untapped potential of hydrocarbons reaches 91% on the shelf and 53% ashore, Natural Resources Minister Sergey Donskoy said at the Arctic Days forum in Moscow on Monday.

"While more than 300 (346) oil and gas fields were opened on the continental zone of Russia’s Arctic, there are just 19 of them on the Arctic shelf. So, according to experts, the untapped potential of hydrocarbons of the Arctic zone is 91% on the shelf and 53% ashore," Donskoy said.

"Among the key tasks of Russia now is to efficiently use and develop the mineral and raw materials potential of the Arctic region," he said. "This envisages the implementation of major investment projects for meeting the domestic and export demands of the country."

"Over the past years significant amounts of geological prospecting works for oil and gas have been carried out. At the same time, geological study of the Arctic shelf still remains underdeveloped and unbalanced," Donskoy added.

The minister said more prospecting work needs to be conducted in the northern areas of the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea and also the East Arctic Seas - the Laptev Sea, the East Siberian Sea and the Chukchi Sea.