Extractive Industry of Russia at the Beginning of the 21st Century: Regional Aspect

Based on the State reports On the State and Use of Mineral Resources of the Russian Federation, the article identifies the current interregional differentiation and dynamics of the extractive industry in 2005–2022. Statistical, comparative-geographical methods and computer modeling were used in the study. It is shown that Russia was losing its position in the global mineral resource complex at the beginning of the 21st century. Unlike other commodity-producing powers, Russia is underutilizing its mineral resource potential for almost all types of minerals. A high level of regional specialization in the extraction of certain types of resources has been revealed. More than 2/3 of the national production of each of the 19 types of mineral raw materials is concentrated in only one region, which determines the vulnerability of regional economies to global market conditions. Krasnoyarsk Krai, Zabaikalsky Krai and Murmansk Oblast are distinguished by the maximum variety of mineral resources being developed. The Russian mineral resource space has been dynamically reformatted during the period under study. Oil and gas production has become more dispersed. The average volume of production at the largest oil fields decreased by almost a third, and gas fields by 40%. The oil and gas industry is characterized by directional shifts to Eastern Siberia and the Far East, as well as offshore areas. The use of the proposed by the author indicator “production temperature conditions” made it possible to quantify the degree of “cooling” of oil production conditions in 2022 compared to 2005. During the period under study, non-ferrous metal production was redistributed in waves between the regions of eastern Russia. In general, the extractive industry in the 21st century maintained the trend of moving north and east, characteristic of the entire Soviet period, with the “east” becoming more and more easterly, and the “north” becoming more and more northerly. Thus, the geography of resource extraction increasingly corresponds to the distribution of their reserves. The established imbalances between mineral reserves and their extraction in the regions can serve as indicators of potential shifts in the geography of the extractive industry. The East Siberian regions and Yakutia are distinguished by the size and degree of diversity of underutilized resources.

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