An Overview of the Petroliferous Basins of the Siberian Arctic

Drachev, Sergey S.¹ (1) ExxonMobil Russia Inc, Moscow, Russia

The Siberian Arctic contains approximately 25 significant sedimentary basins of variable age and genetic origin. They contain very large discovered and undiscovered hydrocarbon resources and some represent the most extreme petroleum frontiers on Earth.

Basin formation is linked to the creation and subsequent disintegration of the supercontinents of Rodinia, Laurussia and Pangea II. As a result of this migrating accretion the sediment fill youngs eastward and north-eastward allowing the overall petroleum system complexity to decrease in the same direction. These basins contain sequences ranging from Riphean clastics and carbonates in the centre of the continent to late Tertiary clastics filling up most of the offshore basins.

Favorable source rock depositional conditions have occurred from Riphean, Cambrian, Late Devonian, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary periods. However the pre-Mesozoic and early Mesozoic systems are thought to be poorly preserved. The Late Cretaceous and Tertiary were times of deltaic and shallow marine accumulation over broad areas of the continental margin enhancing reservoir development. Trap types are highly varied and include rotated fault blocks in the Laptev and East Siberian seas (driven by the opening of the Eurasian Basin) and broad anticlines in the Kara driven by the Eurasia/ India collision).