AbstractThis article considers the decline trends in the structure and quality of the Russian oil-producing regions and systematizes the criteria for distinguishing the category of hard-to-recover oil reserves in the domestic literature. We investigate the characteristics of the resource base of hydrocarbons and their impact on the innovative development of the Russian oil-producing regions. The authors of this article have collected a unique data base necessary for a comprehensive study of resource regions, which includes information about total recoverable reserves, the share of small and very small deposits, the average size of the deposit, and degree of exploration are among the resource factors (the factors of the fluid property included the contribution from dense, sulphurous and viscous oil, and the oilfield factors involved water cut and the degree of depletion). Our analysis also included the factors of innovative regional development: the share of innovative goods in the volume of shipped products, the work done and services rendered, the share of technological innovation costs, and the share of internal research and development costs for the gross regional product. Thus, the hierarchical clustering method has been used to classify the oil and gas regions of Russia according to the quality, to the structure of the resource base, and to the level of innovative development. Calculations identified three clusters (groups of regions): one cluster included regions with a high degree of innovation and a high degree of hard-to-recover reserves, another cluster involved regions with a medium degree of innovation and a low degree of hard- to-recover reserves, and a third cluster included regions with a low degree of innovation and a moderate degree of hard-to-recover reserves. The current study confirmed the hypothesis that a low quality of the resource base of hydrocarbons in the Russian oil-producing regions stimulates innovative development. The results of the research indicate that the production of hard-to-recover oil has an extensive innovative component, which has a multiplicative effect on the related industries and economies of the regions as a whole.