GEOL. C ROAT. 49/2 1343 -344 1 ZAG REB 1996 

A Conceptual Approach to the Exploration and Development of 
HC Fields at the Continental Shelf 

Bori s A. NIKITIN ', A le xandre 1. GRITSENKO' a nd Evgue ni V. ZAKHAROV' 
PROCEED INGS 

The subsurface of the Russian seas continental shelf 
con tains morc than 45% o f the Initial Sum mary 
Resources ( IS R) or hydrocarbons (HC) or Ihe Wo rld 

Ocean shell'. Oul o f Ihe 10lal He ISR al Ihe she lf or Ihe 
Russian Federation seas , gas const itutes 55 .6%, and o il 
38.8%. The reser ves arc predom inan tly in the ca te­

gories C:- . D I and D2, the explored reserves or gas con­
sti tute less than 10% , and of oil less than 4%. Despite 
Ihis, 26 fi elds have already been discovered . 

Exploration and development of He resources at the 
shelf compared with adjacent on-shore arcas, is charac­
ter ised by the significantly higher costs. Tn such cOl1cli­
li ons, the in crease of scientifi c ancl techno-econom ic 
su bstantiation of prospecting, survey and development 
is or trcmendous importance. The main objectives, are : 

• defi nilion o r optimal HC resources (i n le rms or geo­
logical s truc ture, concentration and a rea l di s tribu­

lion); 

• determ inat ion of zones and He pools that are techn i­
ca lly access ible, economically effec tive and ecolog­
ica lly suitable 1'01' explorat ion and development. 

Due to the fact that the concept was worked out for 
Ihe poorly st udied and unevenly explored shel r of Ihe 
Russian seas, it is necessary to s trictly follow the prin ­

ci ples be low: 

• analogy, i. e . wh e n the inves ti gated reg ion of the 
water area over the whole section of sedim entary 
de pos its, o r it s separate part s , is compared to the 
geo log ica ll y s imil a r off- and on -shore region wi th 
provcn industrial oil and gas bearing ability; 

• predic tion in the s tudi ed reg ion of the ne w HC 
fi e lds of some de fin ite phase type, concent ration of 
resources and o il , gas and condensate reserves and 

the ir produc ing capacit ies; 

• est imation of economic effic ie ncy or prospecling­
explorat ion works at the prospective st ruc tures, and 
economic viability of th e explored edge-o ff-shore 
and ma rine o il and gas field deve lopment respec­
tive ly, to de fin e the feasibility of cont inuati on of 
such works in the specific regions and zones; 

I JSC "Gazprom", Moskovskaya oblast, Moscow, Ru ssia. 

2 VN II GAZ, P Razvi lka. Moskovskaya oblast, Moscow, Ru ssia. 

• comple x comparati ve analys is of s tructures and 
fie lds in order to se lect the rational directions and 
priorit ies of localism ion and developme nt ; 

• de fin ing the temporal s trategy and tac ti cs o f these 

works taking into accoun t the prog ressive me thods 
of us ing the improved and pe rfec ted technical means 
and technologies. 

The off-shore of the Russian Federation is subdi vid­
ed into 3 regions, according to the poss ibil ity for com­
pleted works lip to Ihe year 2030: 

I. the shore shelf of the Pechora and Bare llls seas and 
the Tazov and Ob bays; 

2. the deeper shelf of the Bare nts sea, Southe rn part of 
the Kara sea, south-western part of the Laplev sea, 
and the Okhotsk and Caspian seas she l f; 

3. the shelf of the nonhe rn part o r the Kara , Be ring and 
Laplev seas. 

On the basis of comp lex a nalysis the foll owi ng 
regions are given pri o rity fo r pros pecting and expl o­
ra tion: the Pechora sea shelf and Southern shore part of 
the Kara sea. Analys ing the techno-econom ic parame­
ters of s tudies of the He fi e lds in thc various seas, it 
became appare nt that it is most feas ibl e to begin devel­
opment of the fie lds on the Pechora and Kara seas shelf. 
The first priority regions of developmen t. are the eas tern 
part of Ihe Pechora sea she ll' (Prirazlomny o il fi eld) and 
marine continuation of the Nurin and Nijne messojaha 
bars at the she lf of the Kant sea, w here there is a hi gh 
co ncentration of provc n reserves and predict ed He 
resources. 

To deve lop off-shore HC fi e lds in the spec ified 
regions, icc-proof s ta ti onary platforms arc needed for 
a ll year round ope ra tion. As yet there are no suc h plat­
fo rms in Russia. However thcir e laborat ion is unde rway 
at the converted milital)' enterprises. It is pl anned to use 
not only foreign, but al so domestic icc-proo f platforms, 
a nd the off-shore par t o f the Kharasavei a nd Kru zc n­
shtc rn field s should be explorcd by ho ri zont al drilling 
from the shorc. Such a method of deve lopme nt is possi­
ble and also for the shore-marine fi e ld s in the Ob and 
Tazov bays. 

The respect ive works can on ly be unde rtaken on the 
basis of the highly product ivc technique and technolo­
gy, meeting the demands of both the rational usc of the 



subsurface, and the environmen tal protection require­
ments, while effective ly combining both budget and 
non-budget sources of finance . 

Taking into account the fact that the speciric share 
of oil and gas in the fuel-energy complex of the Russian 
Federation will grow in the immediate future, the prob­
lem of prospecting, exploration, construction and oper­
ation of new off-shore oil and gas fields is going to be 
very rea l. Tactically, marine prospecting works should 
be undertaken on a large scale. This will provide, [irst-

Geologi:l CrO:l1iC:l 49/2 

Iy, timely preparation of the obj ects for succeeding 
studies; second ly de termining the areas, in wh ich it is 
feasible to obtain licenses fo r exploration and develop­
ment, it wil! also meet the terms of the relurn all invest­
ments. The ma in principl e in exploration and produc­
tion of oil and gas of the Arctic seas shelf will be the 
attraction (vi a tender) of a wide spectrum of domestic 
and foreign investors (while maintaining national in ter­
ests), and their involvemen t in the domestic mar ine 
geo logical and processing complex.