Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Natural Gas Country Notes

The gas resource base is by far the largest in the world: Russia's proved reserves are quoted as 47 820 bcm by Cedigaz. Other major published sources quote figures very similar to this level.

However, there is some evidence to suggest that the generally quoted quantification of Russia's gas reserves may overstate their magnitude in relation to the proved recoverable reserves reported for certain other countries. While the Russian WEC Member Committee was unable to provide a figure for proved recoverable reserves, it has reported the 'proved amount in place' as 8 425.61 bcm and the 'estimated additional amount in place' as 39.4 tcm, of which 9.037 tcm is stated to be recoverable. This is not to belittle the extent of Russian gas resources, but simply to advocate caution in drawing precise comparisons with reserve estimates for other parts of the world.

The greater part (77%) of the Federation's reserves are located in West Siberia, where the existence of many giant, and a number of super-giant, gas fields has been proved.

The Federation's net natural gas production of 640.6 bcm in 2005 accounted for almost 23% of the world total.

Russia is easily the largest exporter of natural gas in the world: in 2005, according to Cedigaz, its exports reached just over 240 bcm, of which about 145 bcm went to European countries and the balance to former republics of the Soviet Union.