Assessment of Oil and Gas Potential in Vychegda Trough in Connection with the Identification of Potential Petroleum Systems

Abstract

At present, the study of the oil and gas potential of poorly explored areas of oil and gas basins in the Russian Federation is of great importance due to the possibility of discovering large hydrocarbon accumulations in them. The Vychegda Trough in the north of the Volga–Ural basin is considered to be one of such areas. The research is devoted to the assessment of the oil and gas potential of the Vychegda Trough based on the concept of “petroleum systems”, which is widely used in oil and gas geology. A comprehensive analysis of geological and geophysical, petrophysical and geochemical data was carried out, and modern technologies for studying the oil and gas potential of sedimentary basins were applied: paleotectonic, paleogeographic reconstructions and basin modeling. The results of the research allowed us to determine a sufficiently high potential for the discovery of hydrocarbon accumulations and to identify three potential petroleum systems in the basin section: Riphean, Vendian and Devonian–Permian.