The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which is the country’s top planner, is considering to limit local coal output by restricting miners to a 276-day operational year, rather than the 330 days they are currently allowed to work.

Sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the fresh clampdown will remain in place for six months, with some mines and areas possibly excluded, though no decision has been made yet.

Coal mining restrictions would remain in place for six months, with some operations and areas possibly excluded.
Coal, particularly the steelmaking kind, rocketed last year after Beijing introduced production curbs. Coking coal prices more than quadruple and peak at over $300 a tonne in December — a level last seen in 2011. Thermal coal, which is used in power stations to produce electricity, also benefitted from the restrictions. Its recovery helped major producers such as Glencore (LON:GLEN), Anglo American (LON:AAL) and Teck Resources (TSE:TECK.A, TECK.B) (NYSE:TECK) straighten up their balance sheets.

But after a recent pause following 12 weeks of non-stop selling, the rout on coking coal markets resumed on Tuesday. The steelmaking raw material fell 4.7% to $154.80 on the day, the lowest since early September.

China, the world’s largest coal consumer and producer, said last month it continues to work towards its long-term plans of reducing the share of coal in its overall energy mix and consequent smog and greenhouse gas emissions.

Other than shutting down mines and forcing production cutbacks Beijing has also halted the approval of new coal mines until at least 2019, eliminated about 560 million tonnes of coal production capacity and closed 7,250 coal mines in the last five years.

However, as of 14th of February, the ongoing 'Dzud' (the Mongolian term for harsh winter conditions) has resulted in the loss of 75 thousand livestock. More than 100 soums of 10 provinces currently are experiencing Dzud conditions.

“It is a supergiant field even today after almost 50 years of production, the elephant of elephant fields. There is still a lot of oil left,” Ildar Davletshin, an analyst at Renaissance Capital told Bloomberg.

The field belongs to Rosneft, and if the tax cuts are implemented, Samotlor can make the oil company an extra 90 billion rubles or $1.58 billion every year, Davletshin said.

In the 1980s, the Siberian oil field produced 3 million bpd, which is more than today’s daily production of the fourth-largest OPEC member – the United Arab Emirates.

The Soviet Union tried to keep up output and injected water to improve recovery, which led to cracks in the rock. As a result, Samotlor started producing water in circles, and the fall of the Soviet Union only sped up its demise. In 1996, the oilfield produced only 300,000 bpd. Production rose as high as 600,000 bpd in 2009, according to James Henderson, an oil analyst at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

Russian ministries are considering a bill to reduce the tax on deposits that hold more than 150 million tons of resources, but produce more than 90 percent water, a government official told Bloomberg, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. At the moment, all such oil fields belong to Rosneft.

They consider the mining sector - one of the main economic pillars should be developed in a responsible and transparent manner, meeting modern standards and requirements and to be in harmony with the long-term development goal. To realize it, relative laws and regulations should be improved, opening and closing of mines, and rehabilitation should be executed with high quality as well as natural resources should be utilized properly and effectively through introducing advanced technology.