Moscow authorities have discredited reports carried by Russia's largest press agency and some television broadcasts that "enormous hydrocarbon reserves" have been discovered in the Pechora Sea, a southeast extension of the Barents Sea.
Itar-Tass quoted a Murmansk official, a corresponding member of the prestigious Russian Academy of Sciences, as saying Pechora Sea discoveries provided grounds for comparing the area's oil and gas reserves with those in the Persian Gulf region. After checking out the report, Moscow's Izvestia newspaper said it was nothing but a "mirage."
Izvestia quoted one of Russia's leading offshore petroleum specialists, Dilyara Orudzheva, as saying she had never heard of huge petroleum discoveries on the Pechora Sea shelf. Orudzheva added she didn't know the Murmansk official quoted by Itar-Tass and learned he was an ecologist who formerly headed a Murmansk marine biology institute.
"Neither geologists of the Arktikomorneftegazrazvedka (Arctic Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration) Association nor I know on what basis the Murmansk official made such a serious statement. Furthermore, I will say I'm exasperated at such irresponsibility."
Izvestia said the "sensational" Itar-Tass report resulted in a flurry of phone calls from Reuters news agency and U.K. companies interested in possible opportunities for joint venture development of the purported Pechora Sea discoveries.
AREA SETTING
Lending some credence to the story of giant offshore hydrocarbon finds in the area are four large trends with many oil and gas fields running north through the big Timan-Pechora petroliferous basin to the Pechora Sea coast and extending offshore.
At least two offshore gas/condensate fields and one oil field have been found in the Pechora Sea, along with a number of promising structures (see map, OGJ, Aug. 6, 1990, p. 29). Two fields--one oil and one oil and gas/condensate--have been found on Kolguyev Island in the sea's western sector.
None of the Pechora Sea fields has been officially designated as more than "large," by Russian definition holding 30-300 million metric tons (219 million-2.19 billion bbl) of recoverable oil or 30-500 billion cu m (1.06-17.65 tcf) of recoverable gas. Pay is in the Carboniferous and Permian.
Several primarily onshore fields in the Timan-Pechora basin extend offshore.
Russian geologists recently called for increased exploration in the Pechora Sea, as well as development of Prirazlomnoye oil field and Severo-Gulyaev gas/condensate field. Both lie in the sea's ice free southern sector in quite shallow water about 31-37 miles offshore.
Foreign joint venture activity in the Timan-Pechora basin is growing rapidly, including companies such as Total, Conoco Inc., and Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. Apparently none of their projects includes work in the Pechora Sea.
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