Coal in Russia
Coal is one of the largest sources of energy in Russia, accounting for 14.4% of the country's electricity consumption.[1] The prominence of coal power in Russia has been declining since 1990, although Russia has among the largest coal reserves in the world.[2] Russia is the fifth largest consumer of coal in the world and is the sixth largest producer of coal.[3]
Coal reserves
Russia has the second largest coal reserves in the world, equaling 19% of the world's total. The total coal reserves in Russia amount to 173 billion tons.[3] This puts Russia behind the United States in total coal reserves, which has 263 billion tons (see coal in the United States).[4][5] Most of Russia's coal reserves are in the Kuznetsk and Kansk-Achinsk basins.[6]
Coal production
Russia is currently sixth in the world in terms of coal production. It produced 323 million tons of coal in 2009, roughly 4% of the world's total production.[5][3] As the overall Russian economy shrank in the 1990s following the fall of the Soviet Union and transition to a market economy, coal production decreased as well, falling from a production of 425 million tons in 1988 to 232 million tons in 1998.
Coal production began to rise as the Russian economy rebounded following the 1998 financial crisis, but failed to reach Soviet-era production levels as it peaked at 329 million tons in 2008. [4][5] Production once again declined with the effects from the 2008 global economic downturn and as world coal prices fell.[7] Coal prices began to recover in 2010 and supported an almost 10 percent rise in Russian production until 2012. The trend continued even as world coal prices fell, as the devaluation of the ruble made Russian coal exports more competitive globally.[7]
The major areas of coal production are the Donets, Moscow, Pechora, Kuznetsk, Kansk-Achinsk, Irkutsk and South Yakutsk basins.[6] The two major coal producers in Russia are Rosugol and Donugol. Over two-thirds of coal produced in Russia is used domestically.[4]
| Year | Coal Production (Million tons) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 425 | ||||||
| 1990 | 395 | ||||||
| 1998 | 232 | ||||||
| 2000 | 258 | ||||||
| 2003 | 277 | ||||||
| 2004 | 284 | ||||||
| 2005 | 300 | ||||||
| 2006 | 309 | ||||||
| 2008 | 329 | ||||||
| 2009 | 323 | ||||||
| 2013 | 350 | ||||||
| 2014 | 357 | ||||||
| 2015 | 371 | ||||||
| 2016 | 383 | ||||||
| Sources: [4][5][2][8] | |||||||
Coal consumption
Russia is self-sufficient in coal, and consumed 223 million tons of coal in 2009.[4] The percentage of coal in Russian power generation has been declining since 1990, when it was 20.7%, due to increasing gas consumption as well as increasing nuclear and hydroelectric energy production.[2] Currently only 14.4% of Russia's power is produced from coal.[1]
See also
References
- 1 2 "Russia's energy: electric power sector". Russian-American Business. 21 June 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
- 1 2 3 Sokolov, Dmitry (15 October 2007). "Coal Supply Outlook in Russia" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 March 2012.
- 1 2 3 "Coal Mining in the Russian Federation". MBendi Information Services. 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Russia- Electricity". U.S. Energy Information Administration. November 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
- 1 2 3 4 "Coalmining in Russia". Ignatov & Company Group. October 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
- 1 2 Lawson, Peter (2002). "An Introduction to the Russian Coal Industry" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 February 2006.
- 1 2 Uzhakhov, Bilan (11 July 2016). "Is there a future for the Russian coal industry?". World Coal. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
- ↑ "Statistics". Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation. 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2017.