The fuel industry (TP) is the extraction and processing of fuel and energy resources. It includes gas, coal, oil refining, peat industries. The fuel industry is one of the main industries of heavy industry.
The development of the country's fuel industry directly depends on what raw material resources it has. For example, the fuel industry in Russia operates primarily on the basis of the gas and oil refining industries. In Ukraine, the main fuel resource is coal. The fuel industry of Belarus is developing through the extraction and processing of peat. Other fuels are also used, but in this article we will consider in more detail only the main ones.
The fuel industry of Russia consists of three main industries. This is the oil, gas and coal industry.
The oil industry is a leading industry in the fuel and energy complex. At the world level, Russia ranks second in oil production and refining and first in gas reserves and production. The main oil producing bases of the country are the West Siberian (about 70% of all produced oil) and the Volga-Ural (20%). About half of all extracted oil is exported as oil products to neighboring countries. Since oil transportation is not a cheap process, an oil pipeline was constructed for the transmission of raw materials over long distances, the duration of which is 48 thousand km.
The bulk of the gas industry in Russia is concentrated on the basis of the Orenburg-Astrakhan and in the West Siberian fields. According to some estimates by intelligence experts, another large gas production base may appear in the camp - at the Sakhalin and Yakutia fields. Gas pipelines are used to transport gas, the total length of which is about 150 thousand km.
After the discovery of gas and oil fields, the use of coal as a fuel was significantly reduced. If in the 50s the coal industry accounted for 60% of the country's entire fuel industry, in our time this figure has dropped to 11%. Such a rapid decline is associated not only with the global popularity of oil and gas. Coal mining, oddly enough, requires significantly greater material and physical costs. This is the development of deposits, and equipment that today requires modernization, and the quality of the raw materials extracted. In some cases, costs can exceed revenue. The easiest and cheapest way is the extraction of coal in quarries (open). About 2/3 of the total coal mined in the country is extracted in this way. Open-pit coal mining is carried out only in the eastern regions of the country.
World fuel industry
The global fuel and energy industry is also focused on the oil, gas and coal industries. Oil is extracted and refined in 75 countries. The leading country is Saudi Arabia. In second place is Russia, then the USA, Mexico, the UAE, etc.
The gas industry is developed in 60 countries. In this industry, Russia is in first place, in second place is the United States, followed by Canada, Turkmenistan, etc.
The coal industry of the world today is developing slowly, since oil and gas have almost replaced it from the world market. Coal is mainly consumed by the countries in which it is mined. Only 10% remains for export.
According to experts, the reserves of coal will be enough for about another 240 years, while gas - only 65, and oil - for 50 years. Based on this, it is safe to say that after some time, the use of coal as fuel will again occupy a leading place in the global fuel industry.