--> Abstract: New Data on Geology and Oil and Gas Prospects of the Ukrainian Carpathians, by Y. Sovchik, V. V. Krot, Y. Z. Krupsky, and M. A. Vul; #90990 (1993).

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SOVCHIK, YAROSLAV, Zakhidukrgeologia, UkrDGRI, Lviv, Ukraine; and V. V. KROT, Y. Z. KRUPSKY, and M. A. VUL, Ukraine Derzhkomgeologii, DGR, Kiev, Ukraine

ABSTRACT: New Data on Geology and Oil and Gas Prospects of the Ukrainian Carpathians

The western region of the Ukraine occupies the Carpathian and the Volyn-Podolia hydrocarbon provinces in which 81 oil and gas fields have been discovered. Seventy-four of these are concentrated in the pre-Carpathian foredeep. Drilling of deep and superdeep wells, yielding a lot of geological information, resulted in the discovery of only five accumulations in the depth range of 4-7 km. Evaluation of zones lacking discoveries demands a new exploration approach. This concerns mainly the Carpathians, where allochthonous and underthrusted units and the Paleozoic sedimentary cover of the autochthonous foreland platform are recognized.

Tectonic transport of the Carpathian nappes onto the European platform is about 30 km in Poland and 35 km in the southeastern Ukraine. The prospectivity of the autochthonous series is highlighted by the Lopushnya oil field in the Bukovinian part of the Carpathians, the Frasyn field in Romania, 19 fields in Czechoslovakia, and 11 fields in Poland. In these accumulations, flysch nappes play the role of a regional seal.

In the allochthonous Carpathian flysch, plays are related to the Lower Cretaceous and Paleogene Scybian and the Paleogene Krosnian zones. In the Scybian zone, commercial flow rates of gas were obtained in the Grinyava well from Oligocene sediments below the Black Mountain nappe. In the Shevchenkovo well, Lower Cretaceous sands yielded gas shows and water influx at depths of 6930-6990 m, thus giving evidence for reservoir development at great depths. Because allochthonous, multikilometer thrusts act as cap rocks, plays are aimed mainly at parautochthonous units.

The Borislav-Pokutian zone of the pre-Carpathian foredeep holds, despite considerable past exploration activity, the potential for significant future discoveries in lower elements of the Carpathian parautochthonous units, as indicated by oil recoveries from depths of 5704-5796 m.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90990©1993 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, The Hague, Netherlands, October 17-20, 1993.