USGS assesses oil, gas resources in Volga-Ural region

Nov. 12, 2010
A 725,000-sq km province in Russia and Kazakhstan contains an estimate 1.42 billion bbl of oil, 2.38 tcf of natural gas, and 85 million bbl of natural gas liquids, the US Geological Survey said on Nov. 9.

Nick Snow
OGJ Washington Editor

WASHINGTON, DC, Nov. 12 -- A 725,000-sq km province in Russia and Kazakhstan contains an estimate 1.42 billion bbl of oil, 2.38 tcf of natural gas, and 85 million bbl of natural gas liquids, the US Geological Survey said on Nov. 9.

The figures represented mean volumes of technically recovery, conventional, undiscovered resources in the Volga-Ural regional province, the US Department of the Interior agency said. The assessment defined two petroleum systems, the Proterozoic-Paleozoic Composite and the Permian Foreland basin, USGS said.

The assessment was based on published geologic information, commercial data from oil and gas wells and fields, and field production records, USGS said, adding that its approach is to define total petroleum systems and assessment units and assess the potential for undiscovered oil and gas resources.

The report said mean volumes and probability ranges in the Volga-Ural regional province were 1,417 million bbl of undiscovered crude, with a range of 567 to 2,674 million bbl; 2,377 bcf of gas (both associated and dissolved, and nonassociated), with a 644-5,641 bcf range; and 85 million bbl of NGLs, with a 22-209 million bbl range.

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