Coalmining in Russia

The current energy strategy of Russia is partially based on a decision adopted at the 1970s. The fuel balance that now exists in Russia - natural gas supplies up to 70 percent of fuel total consumption and almost 45 percent of energy production - is a result of so called "gas pause" strategy. Forty years ago - when the giant deposits of Western Siberia started to produce gas - they decided that the country would benefit the cheap gas and most of the power plants were modernized for gas utilization. This is a well-known fact that explains why natural gas is the key fuel now in Russia.

But another - less-known - decision was also adopted that time: to use the gas benefits period for developing of new methods of increase of coal burning efficiency, and to return to coal as the key fuel after the "gas pause". They planned to do this by the mid 1990s. Such strategy assumed that the era of cheap gas would come by the end later or sooner, as well as that Russia possessed coal deposits with much larger reserves than natural gas deposits (in fuel equivalent).

The first part of the strategy - transfer of the country's energy to gas consumption - was realized successfully and Russia benefits cheap gas for domestic use for more than thirty years. But the second part - development of coal-burning technologies and return to coal consumption in energy - has been delayed for more than 15 years.

Currently it's clear that the period of gas low domestic prices will end in 3-5 years; moreover there is possibility that Russia may meet a lack of gas for internal consumption. Since 2006 Russia's coal industry benefits interest from a side of the national and global players who look at coal as the most prospective fuel for energy production in the country.

Four years ago Ignatov & Company predicted such splash of interest in coal - and it was a reason why we launched "Coalmining in Russia" project in 2005. The current situation confirms we were right in our forecast - and we are glad that for past 2 years we could become the leading providers of Russia's coalmining information for the global investors and miners.

"Coalmining in Russia" section – contains general profile of coalmining industry in Russia, description of the industry’s positions among other branches of economy, data on coal classification in Russia, and brief history of coalmining in the country.

"Industry Reports" section – contains a set of unique reports on various aspects of coalmining in Russia: geological reports (generally by all Russian coal basins and by separate basins); annual and interim reports on coalmining, treatment, domestic sales, export, etc.

"Coalmining Companies" section – contains intelligence reports on more than 120 operational coalmining companies in Russia. Each report is available in 3 editions – basic, extended and advanced; special edition is provided for coalmining holdings.

"Maps" section – contains Russia’s coalmining digital maps now available in MapInfo format. Each map is being provided as set of layers - coal basins and deposits, underground and open pit coalmines, railroad stations and seaports loading coal, etc.

"How To Buy" section – contains detailed instructions on how to order and pay informational products (reports and maps).

"About Us" section – contains general information about the service provider.