The results of regional exploration and prospecting activities of 2020-2022 and previous studies: update of hydrocarbon potential and exploration and prospecting priority areas in North Caucasus federal district

A regional network of the mutually matched normal lines of geological and geophysical surveys is created; and geological and geophysical data base for regional prediction of oil and gas occurrence was updated. Structural framework based on 13 key and target horizons in the interval from Palaeozoic to Neogene was for the first time created within the North Caucasus Federal District; and architecture of identified and promising oil and gas accumulation zones was updated for the main plays. Schemes of tectonic and oil and gas geological zoning were refined. There were 69 promising traps of different types delineated. Structural features and potential productivity of clinoform sequences in the Maikopsky, Sarmatsky, and Pliocene deposits in the North-Eastern Caucasus were defined more accurately. The balanced well log suite and methodology of lithology, Organic Matter content, and porosity and permeability determination using well logging and core data was developed for the rocks composing main plays, which were previously underexplored at the modern level. The main stages of tectonic evolution and time of formation of structural elements that determine oil and gas accumulation zones are estimated; settings of oil HC generation potential formation, catagenetic transformation of Organic Matter in the main source formations, hydrocarbon generation and expulsion were identified. Forecast of hydrocarbon kitchen areas and oil and gas accumulation zones was substantiated; maps of hydrocarbon potential were created, and the resource potential of each play was evaluated. Focus areas were identified and recommendations on the first-order exploration and prospecting activities were determined first of all for more reliable mapping of the Upper Jurassic subsalt carbonate massifs and identifying large hydrocarbon pools in the central part of the Tersky-Caspian trough