Reserves Available for Development of the Fuel Industry

>p>The fuel industry is one of the leading branches of heavy industry. A rapid increase in fuel output is a necessary condition for high rates of development of the national economy as a whole. The major trends in technological progress - electrification, mechanization and the extension of chemical processes - are inextricably involved with the increase in fuel consumption.>/p>>p>The target figures for the development of the USSR economy from 1959 to 1965 envisage an increase in the extraction and production of the major forms of fuel as follows: petroleum - to 230-240 million tons, or an increase of more than 100% over 1958; gas - to 150 billion cu. m. or fivefold; coal - to 600-612 million tons, or to a level from 21% to 23% higher than in 1958.>/p>