Some of them were explored in the Soviet years, but the main deposits have yet to be found. A serious search begins in 2020. Oil and gas will be searched here, by the way, for the first time since the Soviet Union. Several stages of seismic and electrical exploration will continue in Kalmykia until 2022. By this time, the price of black gold that has fallen on the world market may well recover, and regional authorities are already betting on local hydrocarbons. "I expect that the project will end with the discovery of new oil and gas fields," said the head of Kalmykia, Batu Hasikov. "This is the unused resource that we need for the full development of the fuel and energy complex of the region." It is already known that the search work will take place on the so-called Haptagaysky site, located on the territory of Sarpinsky, Maloderbetovsky and Oktyabrsky districts of the Republic. Currently, annual oil production in Kalmykia is about 160-180 tons and about 60 million cubic meters of gas. But experts believe that the situation may change if local hydrocarbons are taken seriously. Experts note that Kalmyk oil, which was already explored in Soviet times, has its own characteristics. It belongs to the so - called "heavy" oil with a high - up to 30 percent-content of paraffin, and it should be worked with a special technology. However, this cannot be called an unambiguous minus. With a proper approach, such oil can give additional profit, since paraffin can be even more valuable than the black gold itself. For example, when the price of oil was $ 110 per barrel and its ton cost $ 650-700, a ton of paraffin was paid $ 1,000. "This is good oil," says Sumyan artaev, head of the subsoil use Department of the Ministry of natural resources and environment of Kalmykia, " but it is high - temperature. The significant content of paraffin in it creates certain technological difficulties: such oil thickens at normal temperatures and it needs to be heated. But when processing this oil, you can immediately allocate paraffins from it, and this is a big plus. Our oil can become the basis for the development of not only the oil production, but also the chemical industry in Kalmykia, and petrochemistry is a completely different level of development." The authorities of the Republic hope that due to local hydrocarbons, revenues to the budget can significantly increase and over time the steppe Republic will compete with the secured oil and gas regions. The fact that the bowels of Kalmykia are rich in hydrocarbons is evidenced by the local so-called burning artesians. Steppe is the springs, in which water is under the ground is mixed with the methane. It makes its way to the surface in the form of a bubbling foamy fountain that can be set on fire. These amazing springs are very popular among tourists. And shepherds from livestock camps claim that with a certain skill on the steppe "fire water" you can even cook food.