The Timan-Pechora Basin is a
sedimentary basin
Sedimentary basins are region-scale depressions of the Earth's crust where subsidence has occurred and a thick sequence of sediments have accumulated to form a large three-dimensional body of sedimentary rock They form when long-term subsidence ...
located between
Timan Ridge and the
Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan. in northern
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. The basin contains
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...
and
gas field
A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presenc ...
s.
Oil and gas extraction
A planned project to mine its oil and gas was conceived in the mid-1990s and approved by
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
n Governments. As of September 29, 2004,
Conoco
Conoco ( ), formerly known as Continental Oil, is an American Petroleum industry, petroleum brand that is operating under the current ownership of the Phillips 66 Company since 2012 and is headquartered in the Westchase, Houston, Westchase neigh ...
and
LUKoil planned to jointly develop this Basin.
Since 2004 the production increased and the importance for LUKoil increased. However, the production began to decline in 2010. Large investments are needed to increase production rates or at least to maintain production at levels over 17 million tons annually.
Oil extraction has produced limited environmental damage. In particular it has caused
eutrophication
Eutrophication is a general term describing a process in which nutrients accumulate in a body of water, resulting in an increased growth of organisms that may deplete the oxygen in the water; ie. the process of too many plants growing on the s ...
and
organic contamination of waters as interpreted from low
diatom
A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma'') is any member of a large group comprising several Genus, genera of algae, specifically microalgae, found in the oceans, waterways and soils of the world. Living diatoms make up a significant portion of Earth's B ...
diversity and absence of pollution sensitive diatoms among other things. Possibly oil extraction is also behind lower avian diversity at some locations as transport activity might have disturbed wildlife. Despite this much of the Pechora region can be described as "semi-pristine" from an ecological point of view.
In a 2018 assessment, the
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...
estimated for undiscovered, technically recoverable continuous resources, the mean totals for the region are 1,425 million barrels of shale oil, or 1.4 billion barrels of oil; 45,721 billion cubic feet, or 46 trillion cubic feet of gas; and 737 million barrels of
natural gas liquids
Natural-gas condensate, also called natural gas liquids, is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids that are present as gaseous components in the raw natural gas produced from many natural gas fields. Some gas species within the raw natura ...
.
See also
*
Pechora coal basin
*
Trebs and Titov oil fields
*
Yuzhno Khilchuyu oil field
References
External links
Joint U.S. - Russian Statement In Support of the Timan Pechora Project from the White House Office of the Press Secretary on September 28, 1994
at the Moscow International Petroleum Club
Map of the Timan Pechora Hydrocarbon Regionat Blackbourn Geoconsulting
from the ''CIS Oil & Gas Report'' in December 1997
Foreland basins
Geology of European Russia
Oil fields of Russia
Sedimentary basins of Russia
Lukoil
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