What evidence was in the suitcase, which was brought to the meeting at Lukashenko's office

Director General of Belorusneft Alexander Lyakhov brought a suitcase of rather impressive size to the meeting of the President of Belarus on natural resources on March 12. Journalists nicknamed it "silver suitcase", BelTA reports.

The suitcase contained samples of geological material. Petroleum geologists call it "core material" - rocks, which are lifted from the wells. Moreover, it is precisely those parts of the rocks that accumulate oil.

"This is proof of how the conditions of oil production in Belarus have changed to date," explained Alexander Lyakhov to reporters.

Speaking about the difficulties of oil production in Belarus, the general director explained that while 50-60 years ago this resource was extracted relatively easily from porous rocks, nowadays fields with rocks where hydraulic fracturing and construction of horizontal wells are necessary are being developed. "Building a horizontal well is sometimes twice as expensive as a conventional vertical well. But this is the future," he noted.

As reported, at the meeting, Alexander Lukashenko expressed confidence that oil reserves in Belarus are underestimated. "It used to be that in Soviet times we produced about 8 million tons of oil. I'm not naming the figure for nothing. Everyone knows our natural and geological conditions in Belarus. We used to produce 8 million tons of oil, today we produce 2 million tons approximately. What's the matter? They explain to me: they've pumped it all out. I don't believe it," said the President.