Huge new oil deposits in Siberia shown in space imaging probes

'The method of space imaging quantum-optical filtration allows us to identify the boundaries of deposits,' said Valery Rostovtsev, associate professor of Tomsk Polytechnic University's geology and prospecting department.

He was speaking to RIA Novosti on the sidelines of the 15th INNOVUS energy innovation forum in Tomsk.

The discoveries are a potentially significant boost to the Russian economy. 

'We can see four deposits near Bely Yar in the Tomsk Region, quite a large field near Komsomolsk-on-Amur and 12 deposits between the Yurubcheno-Tokhomo deposit and the Angara River. One of them is possibly comparable with the Yurubcheno-Tokhomo field.'

The Yurubcheno-Tokhomo oil and gas condensate field in Evenkia district is one of the largest in Eastern Siberia, with reserves estimated at 498.9 million tons of oil. Russian state-run oil firm Rosneft plans to start extracting oil from the field in 2016.