Republic
31.01.2006
Belarus will increase the supplies of the Russian coal from 300 thousand tons in 2006 to one million tons in 2020, the Belarus-Russia energy budget until 2020 runs.
First vice-premier Vladimir Semashko has reported that according to an analysis, oil and gas prices are expected to equalize with those for coal which yet is more costly than the two mentioned above. Some stations in Belarus will run on coal.
According to estimates, all oil deposits in the world will be depleted in 50 years, of natural gas – in 70 years and of coal – in 500 years. Coal is presently thought of as an alternative fuel but “there is a need to build new heat and power plants to run solely on coal”, the first vice-premier believes. This is why there is a high percentage of coal in the energy budget until 2020, Vladimir Semashko noted.