West Siberian economic region (russian: За́падно-Сиби́рский экономи́ческий райо́н; tr.: ''Zapadno-Sibirsky ekonomichesky rayon'') is one of twelve

economic regions of Russia Russia is divided into twelve economic regions (russian: экономи́ческие райо́ны, ''ekonomicheskiye rayony'', sing. ''ekonomichesky rayon'')—groups of federal subjects sharing the following characteristics: *Common econo ...

. This vast plain—marshy and thinly populated in the north, hilly in the south—is of growing economic importance, mostly due to the abundance of natural resources: oil, coal, wood, water. There are vast oilfields in the

West Siberian petroleum basin The West Siberian petroleum basin (also known as the West Siberian hydrocarbon province or Western Siberian oil basin) is the largest hydrocarbon (petroleum and natural gas) basin in the world covering an area of about 2.2 million km², and is al ...

, and Russia's largest oil refinery is in

Omsk Omsk (; rus, Омск, p=omsk) is the administrative center and largest city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia, and has a population of over 1.1 million. Omsk is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk ...

. The

Kuznetsk Basin The Kuznetsk Basin (russian: Кузнецкий угольный бассейн, Кузбасс; often abbreviated as Kuzbass or Kuzbas) in southwestern Siberia, Russia, is one of the largest coal mining areas in Russia, covering an area of arou ...

around

Kemerovo Kemerovo ( rus, Ке́мерово, p=ˈkʲemʲɪrəvə) is an industrial city and the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Iskitimka and Tom Rivers, in the major coal mining region of the Kuznetsk B ...

and

Novokuznetsk Novokuznetsk ( rus, Новокузнецк, p=nəvəkʊzˈnʲɛt͡sk; literally: "new smith's", cjs, Аба-тура, ''Aba-tura'') is a city in Kemerovo Oblast (Kuzbass) in south-western Siberia, Russia. It is the second largest city in the obl ...

is a center of

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...

, and the production of iron, steel, machinery, and chemicals. Logging is a significant industry throughout the region. Hydroelectric stations dam the Ob near

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk (, also ; rus, Новосиби́рск, p=nəvəsʲɪˈbʲirsk, a=ru-Новосибирск.ogg) is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Census, ...

and Kamen-na-Obi. The navigable Ob-

Irtysh The Irtysh ( otk, 𐰼𐱅𐰾:𐰇𐰏𐰕𐰏, Ertis ügüzüg, mn, Эрчис мөрөн, ''Erchis mörön'', "erchleh", "twirl"; russian: Иртыш; kk, Ертіс, Ertis, ; Chinese: 额尔齐斯河, pinyin: ''É'ěrqísī hé'', Xiao'er ...

watershed covers most of this area, and the southern part is also criss-crossed by the Trans-Siberian, South Siberian and Turkestan-Siberian rail lines. Agricultural products include wheat, rice, oats, and sugar beets, and livestock is raised.

Composition

Altai Krai Altai Krai (russian: Алта́йский край, r=Altaysky kray, p=ɐlˈtajskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai). It borders clockwise from the west, Kazakhstan (East Kazakhstan Region and Pavlodar Region), Novosibirsk and Kem ...

(part of

Siberian Federal District Siberian Federal District (russian: Сиби́рский федера́льный о́круг, ''Sibirsky federalny okrug'') is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. Its population was 17,178,298 according to the 2010 Census, livi ...

) *

Altai Republic The Altai Republic (; russian: Респу́блика Алта́й, Respublika Altay, ; Altai: , ''Altay Respublika''), also known as Gorno-Altai Republic, and colloquially, and primarily referred to in Russian to distinguish from the neighbour ...