Exploration in Russia

2022: Exploration market growth for 4 years by 20% to 6.52 thousand km

The volume of the Russian exploration market excluding seismic exploration in 2022 reached 6.52 thousand km, which is 3.2% more than a year ago. In 2021, the figure increased by 8.7%, analysts at BusinesStat, whose data were published in November 2023, calculated.

According to experts, in 2022, in comparison with 2021, the volume of the exploration market in Russia excluding seismic exploration increased by almost 20%. According to experts, the Russian Federation is a country with rich geological potential, while the bulk of the most promising reserves of raw materials are easily recoverable categories. In recent years, the main increase in geological exploration of the country's territory has been accounted for by additional exploration of existing deposits mainly in Western Siberia, the Urals and the Volga region, the growth rate is estimated at 5-6% annually.

More active development of the subsoil is hindered by the low pace of modernization of the industry, with the exception of the hydrocarbon segment, where the process of updating equipment and digitalization is more active. Market participants have special hopes for the development and implementation of specialized software as one of the drivers of further market development in the coming years, according to a study released in November 2023.

The main share of enterprises engaged in geological exploration, geophysical and geochemical work in the field of subsoil exploration and reproduction of the mineral resource base had a private form of ownership - 70.9% of the total number in the country by the end of 2022. In 2018-2022 the number of employees of industry enterprises in Russia decreased by 21.4%: from 70.3 thousand to 55.3 thousand people. The indicator increased only in 2019 by 2.8% compared to the previous year, in the remaining years of the period it decreased.^[1]

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