Arctic Shelf Oil and Gas Prospects from Lower-Middle Paleozoic Sediments of the Timan–Pechora Oil and Gas Province Based on the Results of a Regional Study

Abstract

The Timan–Pechora oil and gas province (TPP), despite the good geological and geophysical knowledge of its central and southern regions, remains poorly studied in the extreme northwestern part within the north of the Izhma–Pechora depression and the Malozemelsk–Kolguev monocline, and in the extreme northeast within the Predpaikhoisky depression. Assessing the oil and gas potential of the Lower Paleozoic part of the section is urgently required in the northwestern part of the TPP, the productivity of which has been proven at the border and in the more eastern regions of the province (Pechora–Kolva, Khoreyverskaya, Varandei–Adzva regions), that have been evaluated ambiguously. A comprehensive interpretation of the seismic exploration of regional works was carried out, with the wells significantly clarifying the structural basis and the boundaries of the distribution of the main seismic facies’ complexes. The capabilities of potentially oil- and gas-producing strata in the Silurian–Lower Devonian were studied. An analysis of migration routes in transit strata used for basin modeling in order to reconstruct the conditions of oil and gas formation that are common in the land and water areas of the Arctic zone of the TPP was carried out. Modeling allowed us to reach an understanding of the formation of large zones with possible accumulations of hydrocarbons, including the time at which the formation occurred and under what conditions, to establish space–time links with possible centers of generation to identify migration directions and, based on a comparison with periods of intensive generation of hydrocarbons both directly located within the work area and beyond (noting the possible migration), to identify zones of the paleoaccumulation of hydrocarbons. The body of existing literature on the subject made it possible to outline promising oil and gas accumulation zones, with the allocation of target objects for further exploration in the Lower Paleozoic part of the section.

Potential of High-Carbon Domanik (Upper Devonian) Shale Deposits: Timan-Pechora Oil and Gas Province Assessment

“…A specific feature of high-bituminous strata enriched with organic carbon the ability to generate and preserve generated hydrocarbons within single strata or in poorly permeable boundary strata associated with it above and below the section (15)(16)(17). In general, it can be noted that the unconventional oil and gas system differs from the traditional one primarily in that the object of industrial evaluation is hydrocarbons that have not been displaced from OGSS, after their generating (preservation) due to low permeability that does not provide further migration routes to traps or dispersion (18).…”

Application of Multi-Stage Hydraulic Fracturing (MSHF) In The Development of Deep-Lying Deposits with Low Permeability of Hydrocarbon Fields

“…Within the studied field, in the section of the deep-lying deposits, four oil and gas condensate objects have been identified: the first object is a group of formations A 1 and A 2 , the second object is the A 3-4 formation, the third object is the A 5 formation, the fourth object is the A 6 formation [26][27][28][29] .…”

Thermodynamic and Experimental Substantiation of the Possibility of Formation and Extraction of Organometallic Compounds as Indicators of Deep Naphthogenesis

“…The main growth of the explored mineral resource base reserves is provided by such fields [14,15]. A wide range of research is focused on studying the oil's properties from such fields, as well as the conditions peculiarities of their development and prospecting [12,[16][17][18][19]. Many works show the accumulation of hydrocarbons in collector rocks, which are presumably the results of biodegradation.…”