Novosibirsk Oblast (Novosibirskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in southwestern Siberia. Its administrative and economic center is the city of Novosibirsk. The population was 2,788,849 (2018 estimate).
Novosibirsk Oblast is located in the south of the West Siberian Plain, at the foothills of low Salair ridge, between the Ob and Irtysh Rivers. The oblast borders Omsk Oblast in the west, Kazakhstan (Pavlodar Province) in the southwest, Tomsk Oblast in the north, Kemerovo Oblast in the east, and Altai Krai in the south. The territory of the oblast extends for more than from west to east, and for over from north to south. The oblast is mainly plain; in the south the steppes prevail; in the north enormous tracts of woodland with great number of marshes prevail. There are many lakes, the largest ones located at the south. The majority of the rivers belong to the Ob basin, many of them falling in dead lakes. Among the main lakes are Chany, Sartlan, Tandovo and Ubinskoye.
As of 2007, the oil reserves of the region amounted to 204 million tons. In addition, Novosibirsk Oblast had free gas reserves of 600 million cubic meters, solute gas reserves of 5.2 billion cubic meters, and gas condensate reserves of 121,000 tons. Most of the oil and gas reserves are located in the Severny and Kyshtovsky districts.
The following metals can be found in the region: zirconium dioxide (0.7 million tons), titanium dioxide (2.9 million tons), bauxite (2,068,000 tons), and tin (588,000 tons). In addition, there are twenty-three fields of alluvial placer gold in the region (nineteen of which were being developed and prospected in 2006) and seven residual soil gold fields suitable for open-cut mining in the southeast.
Novosibirsk Oblast has 5.527 million tons of high-quality anthracite, as well as 2.720 million tons of long-flame and coking coal. Most of these are located in the Iskitim and Toguchin districts. The north part of the region also has peat fields with estimated reserves of 7.6 billion tons.