Russian scientists have discovered the world's largest oil reserves

Russian scientists have made one of the most significant discoveries - the largest reserves of crude oil have been discovered. As reported back in May, these deposits are located in Antarctica, a territory claimed by Great Britain. However, further work to clarify the geology and geography of the discovery showed that the oil and gas formations extend much further than the zone of influence of London, although they are inextricably linked. OilPrice writes about this.

The discovered reserves are estimated to contain about 511 billion barrels of oil, about 10 times North Sea production over the past 50 years. Despite the ban on development and production in the region, as well as the world’s gradual abandonment of fossil fuels, the discovery of scientists from the Russian Federation, continuing their research, caused a resonance.



The latest annual report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) calls the size of oil reserves discovered in Antarctica very significant. It could affect the global hydrocarbon market.

The discovered reserves would thus be the second largest crude oil reserves in the world, second only to the total discovered reserves of the entire Middle East. The region's proven reserves in 2022 will amount to more than 871 billion barrels. The deposits in Antarctica, unlike the Middle East, are located in one deposit, which is why they are considered the largest.

Further development of explored oil horizons showed that they could be well susceptible to development and production, unlike, for example, the viscous fields of Venezuela. This makes the controversial deposit in Antarctica a tasty morsel for any state. In the UK they have already called the actions of scientists a “challenge” and, according to the old tradition, condemned the seismic research method of the Russians.

Russia stated that the discovery was made solely for scientific purposes. But in the West, their “concern” still gave away their plans, discussing the topic of production more than in Moscow, where not a word was said about the practical development of deposits.