Oil Shale Mining Volume Hits Record Low

Following 2022 and 2023, during which over 10 million tons of oil shale were mined in Estonia, the actual extraction volume last year fell to just 8,549,302 tons out of the permitted 20 million tons. This means that extraction volumes were even lower than the record low of 9.19 million tons reached in 2020.

The largest oil shale miner remained Enefit Industry (a subsidiary of Eesti Energia), which extracted a total of 4,005,921 tons of oil shale from the Ahtme and Estonia mines and the Narva and Sirgala quarries. This is over 1.4 million tons less than the previous year.

VKG Kaevandused slightly increased its mining volume, bringing 3,593,725 tons of oil shale to the surface from the Ojamaa and the developing Uus-Kiviõli mines (compared to 3.4 million tons the previous year).

The mining volume of Kiviõli Keemiatööstus, part of the Alexela Group, in the Põhja-Kiviõli quarry decreased year-on-year from 1.2 million tons to 949,656 tons.

According to the Estonian Environment Agency, resource fees were declared for a total of 10.9 million tons of oil shale last year, amounting to €34.7 million. For comparison, this sum was €42.17 million in 2023 and €81 million in 2022.

Avaldatud 26/04/2025