--> Abstract: The Prinovozemelsky Offshore Zone — A Prospective Region for Discovery of Large Hydrocarbon Accumulations, by Viktor V. Obmetko and Nikolay Malyshev; #90130 (2011)

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The Prinovozemelsky Offshore Zone — A Prospective Region for Discovery of Large Hydrocarbon Accumulations

Viktor V. Obmetko and Nikolay Malyshev
Rosneft oil company, Moscow, Russian Federation.

Now the attention of experts from Russian and foreign companies is attracted to the Eurasian part of the Arctic sea shelf with one of the most perspective for large hydrocarbon accumulations - the Barents and Kara Seas offshore zones near the Novaya Zemlia (the Prinovozemelsky shelf).

The Novaya Zemlya archipelago, located in the northwestern part of the Eurasian continent on the extension of Urals and Pai-Khoi, separates the Barents and Kara Seas. Geologically, this part is referred to the PaiKhoi-Novaya Zemlya thrusted belt, formed at the boundary of the Triassic and Jurassic times at the junction of the ancient Barents-sea and the young West Siberian plate, as a result of collision of the Baltic and Siberian Craton. A series of trusted anticline zones (Kostinsharsky, Dmitrievsky) was formed in frontal zone of Novaya Zemlya in the south part of the Barents Sea. In the central part of the sea in front of the Admiralteisky ancient uplift, the Sedov trough was formed, and then the uplift was transformed into a high-amplitude megaswell. The Varneksky swell in the northernmost part can be referred to its possible extension. In the back part of the trusted area (now it is the western flank of the South-Kara syncline) there is the second series of dislocations, expressed in the form of swell echelons, including (south to north) Obruchev, Minin, Litke and Rogozin swells. Their intensive development took part during the Cretaceous and Cenozoic tectonic activity. Within these swells large local structures, ranging from 500 to 1500 thousand km in size, were identified.

The frontal dislocations of the Paikhoi-Novaya Zemlya orogenic belt were developed in the Palaeozoic passive margin of Baltic. The Paleozoic carbonate complex is associated with major oil discoveries of the Pechora-Barents sea region. The predicted Upper Devonian (Domanik-type) and Permian (bituminous) source rocks are located in the peripheral zone of the Admiralteisky swell. We expected development of large reef buildups and shallow-shelf carbonate reservoirs on the swell. The Paleozoic carbonate complex is overlaid by sandy-clayey rocks of the Upper Permian-Triassic age.

The extensive development of the Upper Jurassic (Bazhenov) source rocks is expected to the east of the Paikhoi - Novaya Zemlya, in the north of the West Siberian megabasin. The development of Middle-Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous shallow-marine clastic reservoirs, similar to reservoirs of the Yamal Peninsula, is predicted on the swells of the Prinovozemelsky zone. By analogy with other Western Siberia marginal zones, large hydrocarbon accumulation are predicted in this part, which are similar to the Novoportovskoye (Nurminski swell), Vankor, Lodochnoye, Suzunskoye (Bolynehetsky swell), and other fields.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90130©2011 3P Arctic, The Polar Petroleum Potential Conference & Exhibition, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 30 August-2 September, 2011.

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