The whole of Russian continent is very rich in resources. Russia is known to have the largest natural gas reserves. The territory comes second with its vast coal reserves. It is also ranked eighth in oil and fuel reserves. Natural or Environmental Gas This domain is of key importance to the country. Gazoprom, a monopoly state-owned company primarily operate this world largest gas reserve. It accounts for 94% of the total gas reserves. Russia is the main exporter of natural gas to European Union member countries. A section of the gas consumed by Europe comes from Russia. The other gas importing countries are Belarus, Italy, Ukraine, Germany, France, Turkey and Hungary. Fuel After Saudi Arab, Russia is the second largest oil producer in the world and the second largest amongst the OPEC countries. Apart from this, it imports oil from Kazaksthan via transportation. Roseneft is the largest oil company in Russia. Some of the other big brands in this domain are Gazprom Neft, TNK-BP, Tatneft, Lukoil and Surgutneftegaz. Most of the fuel pipelines excluding the CSP (Caspian Pipeline Consortium) are administered by Transneft. This company is also into producing other subsidiary oil products which are in turn operated by its sibling company Transneftproduct. At present, Transneft is building the oil pipeline connecting Eastern Siberia and Pacific. Coal Russia is the second largest holder of coal reserves with total deposits of 157 billion tonnes. These coal deposits are widely spread throughout the continent. The main coal reserves are situated in the Kuznetsk and Pechora basins. Brown coal is found in huge amount in the basin zone extending from Kansk to Achinsk. Tunguska basin zone and Siberian Lena as well comprise of huge coal reserves which are yet to be explored. However, according to experts this exploration will not be much beneficial for commercial purpose. Hydropower Hydropower contributes near about 21% of total energy production of Russia. There are 102 active hydropower plants in Russia, with an approx installation capacity of more than 35 GW. RusHydro, the second-largest hydroelectric power generator in the world is located in Russia.
