Underexplored territory of eastern part of Rakshinsky saddle, Visimsky monocline, and southern end of Kamsky arch: prediction of oil and gas occurrence using depositional and basin modelling

In present-day economic realities, mitigating geological risks and cost of dry well drilling by improving reliability of hydrocarbon potential prediction in underexplored territories is an actual task of regional geological exploration activities. Over the past decade, basin modelling has become one of the standards; the use of this methodology is much cheaper than expenses of companies that may originate from inaccurate evaluation of oil and gas bearing capacity. The authors applied the modern software for depositional and basin modelling to predict oil and gas occurrence in territories having different exploration maturity within the Rakshinsky Saddle, Visimsky Monocline, and Kamsky Arch joint (the Perm Region). As a part of this work, a pilot depositional model was created for the Devonian deepest and less studied play, which allowed predicting reservoir rocks and impermeables in the territory under investigation. The resource potential of both the less studied Devonian terrigenous play and the other plays in the region were subsequently estimated using basin modelling and taking into account lithofacies maps. In addition, basing on the accumulations predicted in the basin model, main promising regions as well as focus areas for further activities were determined