U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2011–3051

 June 2011

World Petroleum Resources Project

Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the 

Dnieper–Donets Basin Province and Pripyat Basin Province, 

Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, 2010

Printed on recycled paper

Introduction

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated technically 

recoverable, conventional, undiscovered oil and gas resources of 

the Dnieper–Donets Basin Province and Pripyat Basin Province in 

Russia, Ukraine and Belarus as part of a program to estimate these 

resources for priority basins around the world. The Dnieper–Donets 

Basin Province encompasses about 99,000 square kilometers and 

the Pripyat Basin Province, 35,000 square kilometers (fig. 1). These 

assessments were based on published geologic information and on 

commercial data from oil and gas wells and fields, and field production records. The USGS approach is to define total petroleum 

systems and assessment units, and assess the potential for undiscovered oil and gas resources.

The U.S. Geological Survey, using a geology-based 

assessment methodology, estimated mean volumes of technically 

recoverable, conventional, undiscovered petroleum resources at 84 

million barrels of crude oil, 4.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, 

and 130 million barrels of natural gas liquids for the Dnieper–

Donets Basin Province and 39 million barrels of crude oil, 48 

billion cubic feet of natural gas, and 1 million barrels of natural 

gas liquids for the Pripyat Basin Province.

Total Petroleum Systems and Assessment Units

One total petroleum system (TPS), the Paleozoic Composite, was defined for the Dnieper–Donets Basin and Pripyat Basin 

Provinces (table 1). It was defined to include petroleum source 

rocks ranging in age from Upper Devonian through Carboniferous. 

Two assessment units (AU) were defined geologically within the 

TPS, each encompassing the respective provinces—Clastic and 

Carbonate Reservoirs for the Dnieper–Donets Basin Province and 

Carbonate Reservoirs for the Pripyat Basin Province (figs. 1 and 

2). Two additional AUs containing continuous accumulations, Continuous Basin–Centered Gas and Visean Shale Gas, were identified 

in the Dnieper–Donets Basin Province, but were not quantitatively 

assessed in this study.

In the Dnieper–Donets Basin Province, source rocks include 

the Visean Rudov Bed, Carboniferous mudstones and coals, and 

possibly Frasnian and lower Famennian mudstones (Ulmishek 

and others, 1994; Ulmishek, 2001). These source rocks at present 

are in the lower part of the oil window and upper part of the gas 

window; however, they attained maximum maturation during the 

Late Permian. Reservoir rocks are mainly Carboniferous to Lower 

Permian sandstones. Other reservoirs are in Lower Carboniferous and Lower Permian carbonate rocks, fractured metamorphic 

basement rocks, and Devonian carbonate rocks. Seal rocks include 

Devonian and Permian evaporites and intraformational mudstones. 

Traps are mostly structural, associated with salt and fault blocks, 

drapes, reef facies, and stratigraphic pinchouts. Undiscovered 

accumulations could exist in deeper structural and 

stratigraphic traps and in association with complex 

salt structures.

Source rocks in the Pripyat Basin Province 

primarily are Frasnian (Moiseev Bed) and lower 

Famennian mudstones (Ulmishek and others, 

1994). Reservoir rocks include Devonian carbonate rocks and Carboniferous to Lower Permian 

sandstones. Devonian and Permian evaporites and 

intraformational mudstones serve as seal rocks. 

Traps are mostly structural, associated with salt 

and fault blocks, drapes, reef facies, and pinchouts. Nearly all of the known accumulations 

Figure 1. Generalized map showing the 

boundaries of the Pripyat Basin and DnieperDonets Basin geologic provinces (red lines), 

centerpoints of oil and gas fields (green and red 

circles, respectively), and the location of geologic 

cross section A-A’ shown in figure 2 (green line). 

Country boundaries are represented by blue lines. 

Field data from IHS Energy (2009); geologic province 

boundaries from Persits and others (1998).

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Odessa

Ukrainian Shield

Minsk

Kiev

MOSCOW

Donets

Rostov-on-Don Chisinau

Kharkov

RUSSIAN

FEDERATION

BELARUS

UKRAINE

MOLDOVA

BLACK SEA

Belorussian-Voronezh

High

Pripyat Basin

Donbas Foldbelt

Azov-Kuban Basin SEA OF AZOV

30° 35° 40°

55°

50°

45°

Dniepropetrovsk

A

A'

Dnieper-Donets Basin

ROMANIA

0 100 200 KILOMETERS

0 50 100 MILES
Figure 2. Geologic cross section for the Dnieper-Donets Basin. See figure 1 for location. 

Modified from Ulmishek (2001) and Law and others (1998). Explanation: 1, Upper Devonian; 

2, Devonian evaporites; 3, Carboniferous; 4, Permian; 5, Triassic; 6, Jurassic; 7, Cretaceous; 

8, Cenozoic; 9, oil accumulation; 10, gas accumulation; 11, top of overpressure; 12, 100° C 

isotherm; 13, 0.9 percent vitrinite reflectance isochore; 14, stratigraphic boundary.

Total undiscovered resources Total petroleum systems

(TPS)

and assessment units (AU)

Field

type

Oil (MMB) Gas (BCF) NGL (MMB)

F95 F50 F5 Mean F95 F50 F5 Mean F95 F50 F5 Mean

Mean (expected)

largest

field size

(MMB or BCF)

Gas

Oil Clastic and Carbonate

Reservoirs AU

Dnieper–Donets Basin Province, Paleozoic Composite TPS

46 80 134 84 142 267 492 286 4 9 17 9

1,957 4,115 8,055 4,453 47 105 243 120

16

1,141

Gas

Oil

Carbonate Reservoirs AU

39 31 1

17 <1

20 36 64 11 28 63 0 1 2

0 13 42 0 0 1

Total undiscovered 

petroleum resources 123 4,787 130

6

16

Pripyat Basin Province, Paleozoic Composite TPS

Table 1. Dnieper–Donets Basin Province and Pripyat Basin Province assessment results (technically recoverable, 

conventional undiscovered resources).

[MMB, million barrels; BCF, billion cubic feet. Results shown are fully risked estimates. For gas fields, all liquids are included under the natural gas liquids 

(NGL) category. F95 denotes a 95-percent chance of at least the amount tabulated. Other fractiles are defined similarly. Fractiles are additive under the 

assumption of perfect positive correlation. TPS, total petroleum system; AU, assessment unit. Gray shading indicates not applicable]

are in the northern part of the Carbonate Reservoirs AU (fig. 1), probably 

because of an underlying magmatic 

body that increased thermal maturation of the source rocks. Undiscovered 

accumulations could exist in traps 

similar to those already discovered in 

the northern part of the AU.

Assessment Results

Estimates of volumes of technically recoverable, conventional, and 

undiscovered oil and gas resources are 

shown in table 1. No attempt was made 

to estimate economically recoverable resources because it is beyond 

the scope of this study. The mean volumes of 

undiscovered petroleum in the Dnieper-Donets 

Basin Province are estimated at approximately 

84 million barrels (MMB) of crude oil, 4,739 

billion cubic feet (BCF) of natural gas (286 BCF 

of associated and dissolved natural gas and 4,453 

BCF of nonassociated natural gas), and 130 MMB of natural gas 

liquids. The mean volumes of undiscovered petroleum in the 

Pripyat Basin Province are estimated at approximately 39 MMB 

of crude oil, 48 BCF of natural gas (31 BCF of associated and dissolved natural gas and 17 BCF of nonassociated natural gas), and 

1 MMB of natural gas liquids. The mean volumes of undiscovered 

petroleum for both provinces combined are approximately 123 

MMB of crude oil, 4,787 BCF of natural gas (317 BCF of associated and dissolved natural gas and 4,470 BCF of nonassociated 

natural gas), and 130 MMB of natural gas liquids.

References Cited

IHS Energy, 2009 [includes data current through October 2009], 

International exploration and production database: Englewood, 

Colo., IHS Energy.

Law, B.E., Ulmishek, G.F., Clayton, J.L., Kabyshev, B.P., 

Pashova, N.T., and Krivosheya, V.A., 1998, Basin-centered gas 

evaluated in Dnieper–Donets basin, Donbas foldbelt, Ukraine: 

Oil and Gas Journal, v. 96, no. 47, p. 74–78.

Persits, F.M., Ulmishek, G.F., and Steinshouer, D.W., 1998, Map 

showing geology, oil and gas fields, and geologic provinces of 

the former Soviet Union: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File 

Report 97–470E, CD–ROM.

Ulmishek, G.F., 2001, Petroleum geology and resources of the 

Dnieper–Donets Basin, Ukraine and Russia: U.S. Geological 

Survey Bulletin 2201–E, 14 p.

Ulmishek, G.F., Bogino, V.A., Keller, M.B., and Poznyakevich, 

Z.L., 1994, Structure, stratigraphy, and petroleum geology of the 

Pripyat and Dnieper–Donets Basins, Byelarus (sic) and Ukraine, 

in Landon, S.M., ed., Interior rift basins: American Association 

of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 59, p. 125–156.

For Further Information

Publications detailing the geology for the Dnieper–Donets 

Basin Province, Pripyat Basin Province, and the assessment 

methodology and results are available at the USGS Central Energy 

Resources Science Center web site, http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/

oilgas/.

Dnieper–Donets Basin Province Assessment Team

T.R. Klett (tklett@usgs.gov), Christopher J. Schenk, Ronald R. 

Charpentier, Michael E. Brownfield, Janet K. Pitman, Richard M. 

Pollastro, Troy A. Cook, and Marilyn E. Tennyson.

Basement

2.0

3.0

4.0

1.0

5.0

6.0

0

7.0

8.0 0 10 20 KILOMETERS

0 5 10 MILES

NE

Kilometers (Datum Mean 

Sea Level)

10.0

9.0

SW

EXPLANATION

1

2

3

4

5

6 12

7

8

Basement

10

11

9 Fault

14

13

A A'

Devonian

Permian-Cenozoic

Carboniferous