Fold Belts: Shall We Expect a Shift in Petroleum Exploration Priorities?

Abstract

Abstract Oil and gas exploration in Russia passed through 3 cycles of rapid reserve base build-up. The first one is related to the exploration in the foothills of the Caucasus. The second successful exploration campaign occurred in the Volga-Urals. The last one took place in the West Siberia. All of them were driven by new ideas coupled with technological advances. The vast Soviet legacy provided sufficient reserves to boost oil and gas production for many years to come. As a result exploration activities in Russia were drastically reduced. Oil and gas companies were mainly focused on capitalization of business through increasing of oil and gas recovery on existing fields. It seems that this period comes to an end. Production from the aging giants is getting more expensive. The existing producing fields have predominantly hard-to-recover reserves with a high water cut. The identification of new exploration plays to offset the declining production on old fields eventually becomes an important issue. Petroleum exploration in the mature areas, such as the West Siberia and Volga Urals, deliver predominantly small fields. This necessitates the identification of new exploration opportunities capable to provide large volumes of oil and gas to support future production. Examination of G&G data characterizing petroleum potential of Russia indicates that reserve replacement may have three possible directions. These include: (1) exploration in the Arctic shelves; (2) realization of potential of shale deposits; (3) exploration in the underexplored fold belts. It is likely that the third option may provide very substantial resource potential. In addition, while the Arctic exploration and shale development projects are affected by the sanctions, equipment and technologies needed for operations in the fold belts are available for Russian companies.