Abstract
The northern part of the West Siberian province is mainly a gas producing area. Onshore, gas forms 80% of hydrocarbon production and potential recoverable reserves are estimated at Trillions of cubic meters. The hydrocarbon potential of offshore extensions of West Siberian producing basins may be equally high. Kara Sea basin is a likely target for future exploration interest and development activity.
Arctic part of West Siberian oil-gas basin, including. offshore in the Kara-Sea and West of the Enisei-Hatang depression, is characterized by some peculiarities of geological structure and history and as consequence specificity of oil-gas bearing, that distinguishes this area from the rest West Siberia basin. This region has natural geographical bounderies: on the South it is the main watershead of the plain – Siberian Uvali, on the North it is the continental threshold in the Kara-Sea, on the West and East – these are exposed Hercynian and Cimmerian folded systems.
Specificity of the region may not be detected quite definitely in Geological Map (Fig 1), as the Cenozoic and Cretaceous sediments overlap the tectonicaly heterogeneous northern and southern parts of West Siberian plain by the single common cover. More clear picture gives the Scheme of "Major structures and age of the cover" (Fig 2).
