A.E. Kontorovich

Steranes in neoproterozoic oils from the Nepa-Botuoba anteclise in the Siberian platform and the South Oman salt basin in the Arabian platform

A number of rare sterane hydrocarbons untypical of younger Phanerozoic petroleum systems have been found by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in crude oils from the Nepa-Botuoba anteclise of the Siberian platform and the South Oman salt basin of the Arabian platform (Huqf family oils). Among regular steranes, a continuous series of C21 to C30 hydrocarbons including the previously unknown C23-C25 isomers have been identified. It has been noted that short-chain C21 and C22 steranes are represented by the most thermally stable pregnane species diginane and methyldiginane. Another series of steroids is represented by A-norsteranes, the structures demethylated at C10 (main fragment ion in the mass spectrum at m/z 203). Tricyclic hydrocarbons C26-C29 identified by m/z 219 have been attributed to the homologous series of 8,14-secosteranes. These chemofossils have a wide stratigraphic range of occurrence and, like modern minor secosterynes, can be associated with lipid membranes of sponge and their bacterial synbiotics.

Key Problems in the Development of the Power of Siberia Project

The article discusses the implementation of the Power of Siberia project in terms of the opportunities for integrated subsoil development, including the creation of gas, petrochemical, oil-and-gas transportation, and helium industries in regions of the Russia’s East. Within the framework of the project, the following tasks have been accomplished: an analysis of the natural gas resource base of Eastern Siberia and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and its extraction; the directions of transport infrastructure development are validated; the key problems, with which the project is associated, are shown; the possibility of implementing a public-private partnership is considered. It is shown that the implementation of the Power of Siberia project faces a number of serious difficulties. So, in particular, neither in Russia nor in the world are there superextensive gas pipelines, by which multicomponent gas would be transported. The intentional reduction in the helium concentration will lead to a sharp rise in the cost of its isolation, which calls into question the entire helium program. In addition, the current concept of developing the gas potential of Eastern Siberia does not envisage the use of the Irkutsk processing cluster, which already has a significant infrastructure for the hydrocarbon raw materials processing, as well as are personnel and production potential, unlike the projected gas processing plant in Amur oblast.

Organic Carbon Distribution in the Bazhenov Horizon Rocks of the Western Siberian Megabasin

The distribution of organic carbon in the Bazhenov horizon rocks of the western Siberian sedimentary basin is investigated. The organic carbon concentration in rocks is estimated by the results of core analyses (4094 core analyses) and by the calculations of the core-log data correlations (48 500 measurements) according to the data of radiation and electrical loggings. The average content of organic carbon in the rocks of the Bazhenov and Tutleim (lower subformation) formation is 7.7%. The map of organic carbon concentrations in the sedimentary rocks of the basin is constructed. In the basin, Corg is distributed asymmetrically. The region of maximum Corg concentrations occupies the southwestern part of the internal area of the sedimentary basin. Silicites and biogene silica-enriched mixtites are enriched with organic matter most of all.