Seismic Tomography Used To Forecast Promising Carbonate Deposits for Oil and Gas in the Upper Folded Basement of West Siberia

Abstract

Oil and gas content in the Paleozoic superface under conditions of the West-Siberian plate is generally connected with Pre-Jurassic outcrop of carbonate or carbonateterrigenous units. This regularity is primarily caused by the ability of carbonate units to form reservoirs of high storage capacities. Reservoirs are formed by the action of secondary processes (fracturing, cavernosity, karstification) both at the stage of peneplain formation and during the Mesozoic period. A great number of hydrocarbon fields, confined to the disintegrated roof of those carbonate units, have been discovered all over the West Siberian plate. As a result, the detection and mapping of carbonate massifs outcropping in the Pre-Jurassic period or overlapped by thin effusive-sedimentary Triassic formations become extremely important. With this in mind we have used seismic tomography to interpret regional refraction observations.