Oil and gas bearing sedimentary basins of Kazakhstan, the CIS and the

World

Practice 2 – Analysis of oil and gas bearing sedimentary basins of Russia

Name of the Student: Duration: 2 hr

Day & Date: Wednesday, 13th of September 2023 Max. marks: 2

General information:

Russia is located in both Europe and Asia. It is the largest country in the world by area.
Russia is a country that stretches from eastern Europe to the Pacific Ocean, with an area of
17,075,400 km2. The vast territory of Russia has traditionally been divided into five geographical
zones: tundra, taiga or forest, steppe or plain, arid and mountain. Most of Russia consists of two
plains (the East European Plain and the West Siberian Plain), two lowlands (the North Siberian
and the Kolyma, in far northeastern Siberia), two plateaus (the Central Siberian Plateau and the
Lena Plateau in the east), and a series of mountainous areas concentrated mainly in the extreme
northeast or extending intermittently along the southern border.
Tectonically, Russia includes two old platforms (the Russian platform and the East
Siberian plat- form), one young platform (the West Siberian platform) and five orogenic
belts (Urals, Taimer, Altai, Alpes and Kamchatka). It is very difficult to provide detailed
information regarding the huge oil and gas potential of Russia. The unique geological
conditions, however, are characterized by following five features.
1 There are many large sedimentary basins (Table 71.4), including West Siberia basin
which has an area of 3.3 million km2, East Siberia Basin 3.5 million km 2, Barent Sea Basin
1.0 million km2, Anadyrskiy Basin 740,000 km2, Okhotsk Basin 850,000 km2 and Volga-Urals
Basin 700,000 km2. Worldwide, there are only three basins larger than 3 million km2 in area,
and two of these (West Siberia and East Siberia) are located in Russia.
2 There are many large structures in Russia, mostly very simple, i.e. anticline types.
Most of these structures have large areas, examples being the Romashkinskoe oil field with
an area of 4000 km2, the Urengoy gas field 4000 km2, the Fedorov oil field 1800 km2 and the
Samotlor oil field 1600 km2.
3 There are many large oil and gas fields. Urengoy is the second largest gas field in the
world with proven gas reserves of 8 trillion m3. Samotlor oil field is also megasized with
proven oil reserves of 2.1 billion t.
4 There are many large oil and gas bearing formations. Urengoy gas field has gas-
bearing strata of 2180 m in thickness while Fedorov oil field has oil bearing strata that are
1100 m in thick- ness, with porosity 25 per cent and permeability 500–1000 mD.
5 There are huge oil and gas resources. According to estimated data by the end of 2000,
the total oil resources were 84.5 billion t and accumulated oil production only 15.6 billion t;
total gas resources 236 trillion m3 and accumulated gas production 46 trillion m3.
Tools: folder for papers (10-20 pages), black gel pen, pencil, eraser.

Task 1
Look at the map of oil and gas provinces/basins of Russia and put all the oil and gas
sedimentary basins and largest HC fields on the contour map. Write down all the names,
memorize them and their locations and contours.
! Use a pencil for sketching/drawing and a black gel pen for naming objects. Put all the largest
oil and gas fields on the map.
HC fields&: Romashkinskoe oil field, Urengoy gas field, Fedorov oil field,
Samotlor oil field, Salym group.

Learn definitions:

1. Oil and gas province/basin - is a relatively large area of the earth's crust that unites
several adjacent oil and gas-bearing areas with common features of regional geology and
similar conditions of regional oil and gas formation and oil and gas accumulation. Basin
clarifies the relationship of oil and gas formation and formation of deposits with
sedimentary basins.
2. Oil and gas bearing region - is a territory within a province (basin), confined to one or
more structural elements (vault, megawall, depression, etc.), characterized by a common
geological structure and geological history of development, including regional conditions of
oil and gas formation and oil and gas accumulation during separate geological periods and
epochs.
3. Oil and gas bearing area - is a part of an oil and gas bearing area that unites a number of
oil and gas accumulation zones, distinguished by geostructural or geographical features.
4. Oil and gas accumulation zone - is a set of oil and gas deposits and deposits united by
the common nature of structural and tectonic conditions (anticline, monocline) or natural
reservoirs in a single tectonic, lithological-stratigraphic or riphogenic zone. In accordance
with this, zones of oil and gas accumulation of anticlinal, lithological, stratigraphic,
riphogenic and combined types are distinguished.
5. An oilfield - is an area of land or sea under which there is oil.
6. The deposit - A deposit is an area in the earth’s crust where solid or gaseous resources are
found in a high natural concentration.
If extraction of the deposit is worthwhile, it is referred to as a workable deposit.
If extraction of the deposit is worthwhile in the future, it is referred to as a usable deposit.
Deposits contain resources such as natural gas, crude oil, coal, ore, salt, stone, and other
minerals.

7. The Trap - is a geological structure affecting the reservoir rock and caprock of a
petroleum system allowing the accumulation of hydrocarbons in a reservoir. Traps can be of
two types: stratigraphic or structural. Structural traps are the most important type of trap as
they represent most the world's discovered petroleum resources.
8. Natural reservoir - is a natural storage of oil, gas and water, the shape of which is
determined by the interrelation of reservoir rocks with low permeability rocks. This notion is
largely like that of a field. A natural reservoir is specified by the type of reservoir rock, its
capacity, hydrodynamics, and energy level.
The main types of natural reservoirs are as follows:
formation reservoirs – limited by impermeable rocks across a significant space of the top
and the bottom.
massive reservoirs – their sizes are consistent in three dimensions, they are surrounded by
impermeable rocks and represented by, for instance, reef formations, structural curves of
thick permeable rocks.
lenticular reservoirs – sandstone lenses within clay, fractured areas in various impermeable
rocks.

9. Crude Oil - The basic oil in its raw state as it comes out of the ground.
10. Condensate - Liquid hydrocarbons recovered by surface separators from natural gas. It
is also referred to as natural gasoline and distillate.
11. Hydrocarbons - A naturally occurring organic compound comprising hydrogen and
carbon which can occur as gases, liquids, or solids. Some examples include Methane,
Ethane, Propane, Butane, Pentane, Hexane, Coal, Bitumen and Asphalt.
12. Natural Gas - We’ve all heard of it – but what does it contain? Essentially, it’s a
naturally occurring mixture of hydrocarbon gases that is highly compressible and
expansible. Methane is the main constituent of most natural gases (as much as 85%). Also
present is lesser amounts of ethane, propane, butane, and pentane. Impurities can also be
present in large proportions, including carbon dioxide, helium, nitrogen, and hydrogen
sulphide.
13. Play - A group of oil fields in the same area which are controlled by the same set or
geological circumstances. For example, the North Sea can be divided into six ‘plays’.
14. Petroleum - The word petroleum means ‘rock oil’. It is a broad category that includes
both crude oil and petroleum products. The terms oil and petroleum are sometimes used
interchangeably.
15. Gas cap – accumulation of free gas in the most raised part of oil-bearing reservoir above the
oil deposit. The gas from the cap relates to oil – both dimensionally and genetically. Heavy
hydrocarbons content in gas gap significantly exceeds their content in gas deposits; their total
amount may reach 35–40 per cent. With the purpose to preserve the gas deposit gas from the gas
cap is withdrawn, usually it is done after oil is recovered. In the process of recovering oil from
the deposit the gas gap expands, which contributes to oil displacement. Gas caps also may be
formed in the process of developing the upper layer of oil reservoir due to emission of gas
dissolved in oil when reservoir pressure is decreased significantly.