Gas production in Russia for the coming decades is secured by the reserves of the large fields of West Siberia. During this period, however, a large number of medium and small fields in European Russia will be brought onstream.
In Timan-Pechora oil-gas province the main delineated reserves are located in two regions: Vuktyl and Nar'yan-Mar. In the first of these the reserves are 70 percent depleted, whereas in the second they are practically untouched. In these same areas the degree of delineation of the initial potential resources is 54 and 75 percent, respectively. For the province as a whole this parameter is 44 percent. Initial potential gas resources for the onshore part of the province are placed at 2.4 trillion cubic meters (84 tcf). A comparable amount is assessed for the Pechora Sea Shelf, which is part of the single sedimentary basin of Timan-Pechora province.
The Volga-Ural oil-gas province has an area of 800,000 sq km. Drilling includes 25,000 exploration and delineation wells and 112,000 production and injection wells. A total of 861 fields with 3345 oil, gas, and oil-gas pools have been discovered. The section includes eight petroleum systems, two of which - the Eifelian-lower Frasnian and Visean - have the highest concentration of oil at 67 percent of the total for the province. Almost half of the original oil resources are in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan; the rest are in Volgograd, Saratov, Orenburg, Perm, and Samara Regions and Udmurtia. Of the 5.8 billion tons (41 BBO) produced, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan account for 62 percent. Of the initial resources of the province, 62 percent have been produced, and 27 percent remain to be discovered. One-third of the latter catagory are in the Orenburg and Lower Volga areas.
As of 1996 the total original recoverable hydrocarbon resources of Saratov Region were placed at 1977 million tons of oil equivalent (14 BBO). Undiscovered recoverable oil was 684 million tons (4.8 BBO) and that for gas was 958 billion cu m (33.5 tcf). Almost half of these resources are in the North Caspian depression.
Total original oil resources of Volgograd Region in 1996 were 684 million tons (4.8 BBO), of which more than 174 million tons (1.2 BBO) had been produced. Undiscovered oil was placed at 262 million tons (1.83 BBO) for the right-bank area of the Lower Volga. Of the total original 1344 billion cu m (47 tcf) of gas, only 84 billion cu m (2.9 tcf) have been produced.
In Orenburg Region undiscovered hydrocarbon resources are assessed at 794.8 million tons of oil equivalent (5.6 BBO).
Original gas resources of the North Caucasus as of 1996 stood at 1651.4 billion cu m (58.8 tcf), and undiscovered gas is placed at 839 billion cu m (29.3 tcf).
Gas production should now stabilize and subsequently increase not only in West Siberia but also in European Russia. This is important for continued gasification of rural areas through discovery of small and very small gas pools. (Taken from Kovalenko and others, 1998; digested in Petroleum Geology, vol. 32, no. 3, p. 262-268, 1998, one map showing tectonic features)
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