Assessment of hydrocarbon resource base and challenges of its reproduction in the Northwestern federal district of Russia

The authors evaluate the current state of hydrocarbon resource base in the commercially oil-bearing areas of the Russian Northwestern Federal District, namely: the Timan-Pechora Petroleum Province and the independent Baltic oil-bearing area (the Kaliningrad Region). The paper presents data on oil and free gas production history and reserves growth in commercial categories for the period from 2009 to 2018, and amount of geological exploration works completed. In accordance with the results of total initial in-place resources quantitative assessment as on 01.01.2017 and compared with the results of the previous evaluation, the changes in their structure during the recent 10 years are discussed. The authors consider the subsoil use challenges in the Timan-Pechora Petroleum Province and propose the ways to address them. Analysis of the current hydrocarbon resource base shows an insufficient replacement of oil production through addition of commercial categories’ reserves. This is very largely because of redistribution of emphasis in geological exploration staging. The main challenge of the subsoil use is related to the low interest of companies in new subsoil areas acquisition, their low activity in tenders and auctions for the right to use subsurface mineral resources. One of the ways to improve the efficiency of subsoil licensing program may be to assess and disclose information on geological and economic indicators before the licensing agreement is executed