Russia’s energy company Gazprom Neft has announced the discovery of a new oil field on the Yamal Peninsula, with estimated geological reserves of 55 million tons of crude oil - a significant boost to Russia’s Arctic energy ambitions.

The newly identified field is located in the Arctic zone of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area and has been named after prominent geologist Alexei Kontorovich, The Caspian Post reports via Chinese media.

Company CEO Alexander Dyukov emphasized that the Arctic and Eastern Siberia still hold vast untapped potential.

“Both in the Arctic zone and in Eastern Siberia, as well as in many other regions, there are still opportunities to discover new large and super-large hydrocarbon fields,” Dyukov said, adding that Gazprom Neft will continue active geological exploration across all areas of operation.