Russia’s coal reserves are sufficient to meet domestic demand for over 500 years, and the country sees significant scope for deepening cooperation with India in the coal sector, Russian Energy Ministry officials have said, according to Press Trust of India.

In an article published in Energy Policy magazine, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak outlined plans for new environment-friendly and safe coal mining hubs, which are expected to add up to 250mn tonnes of production capacity by 2025. Novak said that Russia is already one of the largest coal suppliers to India by volume.

Russia produced 443.5mn tonnes of coal in 2024, of which 196.2mn tonnes were exported, according to Press Trust of India. According to the country’s energy strategy through to 2050, production is targeted to reach 530.1mn tonnes by 2030 and 662mn tonnes by 2050.

Novak wrote that by mid-century, the Russian coal industry will consist of high-tech, environmentally compliant enterprises. Installed coal-fired power generation capacity in Siberia and the Far East is expected to reach 38 GW. He also highlighted ongoing efforts to adopt clean coal technologies, modernise mining methods, expand coal and coal-waste processing, and develop coal-based chemical industries.

Russia, he added, has a vast resource base and the infrastructure to efficiently extract and use these reserves, both to meet domestic demand and to grow its exports, according to the news report.

The country has proposed an intergovernmental agreement with India to formalise volumes for the supply of coking and thermal coal. Pyotr Bobylev, director of the coal industry department at Russia’s Energy Ministry, told the Interfax news agency that India’s growing steel sector presents significant opportunities for enhanced Russian-Indian cooperation.

A memorandum signed in 2021 aims to raise Russian coking coal exports to India to 40mn tonnes by 2035.

Despite India’s rapid growth in renewable energy capacity, the government has reiterated that coal remains central to the country’s energy mix. Coal-fired power plants continue to supply the bulk of India’s electricity. In a notable milestone, India recently achieved annual coal production of 1bn tonnes.