U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2011–3149

April 2012

World Petroleum Resources Project

Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the 

North Sakhalin Basin Province, Russia, 2011

Introduction

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated volumes of undiscovered, technically recoverable, conventional oil and gas resources of the North Sakhalin Basin 

Province in Russia. The assessment is part of a program 

to estimate petroleum resources for priority basins around 

the world, specifically for total petroleum systems (TPS) 

and assessment units (AU) that are defined on the basis of 

their geologic attributes that are favorable for the generation and accumulation of petroleum. The western portion 

of the neighboring Deryugin Basin Province was assessed 

along with the North Sakhalin Basin Province (fig. 1) 

because the one defined TPS, the Cenozoic Composite 

TPS, spans both provinces. Hereafter, both areas are 

referred to only as the North Sakhalin Basin Province. The 

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated volumes of undiscovered, 

technically recoverable, conventional petroleum resources for the North Sakhalin Basin Province of Russia. The 

mean volumes were estimated at 5.3 billion barrels of crude oil, 43.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 0.8

billion barrels of natural gas liquids.

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VERKHOYAN-CHUKOTKA NORTH OKHOTSK GROUP OF BASINS

FOLDED REGION

SIKHOTE-ALIN FOLDED REGION

TATAR STRAIT

BASIN

TERPENIYA BAY

BASIN

West Sakhalin Uplift

East

Sakhalin

Uplift

DERYUGIN

BASIN

NORTH

SAKHALIN

BASIN

SOUTH OKHOTSK

BASIN

CENTRAL OKHOTSK

HIGH

Sea of Okhotsk

Tatar

Strait

Sakhalin

Island

RUSSIA

Assessment unit

 boundary

Oil field

Gas field

EXPLANATION

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PACIFIC

OCEAN

RUSSIA

CHINA

Study area

0 50 100 KILOMETERS

0 25 50 MILES

Figure 1. Generalized map showing the boundary of the North Sakhalin Basin Assessment Unit, centerpoints of oil and gas fields, and the 

location of geologic cross section A−A' shown in figure 2A. The Cenozoic Composite Total Petroleum System boundary coincides with the 

boundary of the North Sakhalin Basin Assessment Unit. Field data from IHS Energy (2009); assessment unit boundaries were drawn based on 

North Sakhalin Basin and Deryugin Basin Geologic Province boundaries from Persits and others (1998) and Lindquist (2000).
area assessed encompasses about 254,950 square kilometers. This assessment was based on published geologic 

information, commercial data from oil and gas wells and 

fields, and field production records.

Total Petroleum Systems and Assessment Units

The North Sakhalin Basin Province has a complex 

tectonic history. The North Sakhalin Basin is interpreted 

to have originated as an Early Cretaceous passive continental margin that was deformed by Cretaceous to 

Paleogene continental collision that involved subduction 

of oceanic crust and accretion of a volcanic arc. Accreted 

sedimentary wedges form the core of Sakhalin Island, 

upon which a Paleogene to Neogene prograding delta 

system (paleo-Amur delta) developed. The delta system 

was modified by several tectonic events throughout the 

Cenozoic. Strike-slip movements occurred during the 

early Cenozoic, and late Neogene transpression and inversion followed by Pleistocene extension and transtension 

formed many of the present-day structures (Lindquist, 

2000).

The Cenozoic Composite TPS was defined for 

the North Sakhalin Basin Province (table 1) to include 

petroleum source and reservoir rocks of Cenozoic age. 

The TPS boundary coincides with the boundary of the 

North Sakhalin Basin AU, which contains conventional 

undiscovered oil and gas resources and was the only AU 

defined geologically within the North Sakhalin Basin 

Province–North Sakhalin Basin AU (figs. 1, 2). A second 

AU possibly containing continuous accumulations, in 

Oligocene to lower Miocene self-sourced siliceous rocks, 

was identified, but was not quantitatively assessed in this 

study.

Major source rocks in the North Sakhalin Basin 

Province primarily are upper Oligocene(?) to lower 

Miocene deep-marine diatomaceous mudstones. Lower 

to middle Miocene continental to pro-deltaic carbonaceous to coaly mudstones and marine mudstones are 

possible source rocks (Lindquist, 2000). The onshore and 

western offshore parts of the North Sakhalin Basin AU 

contain greater amounts of continental sediments and are 

mainly gas-prone, whereas the eastern part containing 

greater amounts of marine sediments is mainly oil-prone. 

Peak oil was generated during the Miocene and Pliocene 

(Lindquist, 2000). Most known recoverable crude oil 

and natural gas were discovered in Miocene to Pliocene 

clastic rocks of the delta system, although some reservoirs 

exist in Oligocene to lower Miocene fractured siliceous 

rocks and fractured pre-Cenozoic serpentinites. Seal rocks 

are primarily Miocene to Pliocene mudstones. Identified 

traps include anticlines, faulted anticlines, faults and fault 

blocks, various stratigraphic features (for example, depositional and unconformity pinchouts, facies changes) and 

hydrodynamic traps. High potential for discoveries exists 

in the offshore part of the North Sakhalin Basin Province 

in shelf-slope and basin-floor facies (for example, channels, fans, turbidites).

Table 1. North Sakhalin Basin Province assessment results (undiscovered, technically recoverable, conventional 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]

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 North Sakhalin Basin AU

North Sakhalin Basin Province, Cenozoic Composite TPS

1,791 4,776 10,850 5,345 5,989 16,592 39,520 18,874 63 177 427 202

8,001 22,091 51,784 24,933 178 490 1,151 555

1,000

5,350

Total undiscovered petroleum

resources 5,345 43,807 757
Figure 2. Geologic cross sections across the North Sakhalin Assessment Unit. A. West-to-east regional structural cross section of the 

Sakhalin area, North Sakhalin Basin Province, Russia (from Lindquist, 2000; after Worrel and others, 1996). Location shown in figure 1. Inset 

box represents the approximate location of a geologic model of petroleum occurrence shown in figure 2B. B. A geologic model of petroleum 

occurrence, North Sakhalin Basin Province, Russia (modified from Kharakhinov, 2010).

0 50 100 KILOMETERS

0 25 50 MILES

VERTICAL EXAGGERATION X10

SEA LEVEL

5

10

15

SEA LEVEL

5

10

15

KILOMETERS KILOMETERS

Proximal coarse clastic

 sediments

Distal coarse clastic

 sediments

Gravity-flow sediments

Fine clastic sediments

Fault

Reservoir rocks

Seal rocks

Source rocks

EXPLANATION

SL

S

R

Tatar Basin—Cretaceous 

to Paleogene forearc strata

Eocene to recent strata

Fault

EXPLANATION

Cretaceous to Paleocene

volcanics and intrusives

Mainland:

SIKHOTE-ALIN RANGE Tatar Strait Sakhalin Island Sea of Okhotsk

WEST

SAKHALIN

FAULT

EAST

SAKHALIN

FAULT

ZONE

Cretaceous to

Paleocene

accretionary

complex

Okhotsk crustal block

(pre-Eocene) Suture

zone?

DERYUGIN BASIN

A A'

WEST EAST

WEST EAST

S

SL R

S

S S

S

R

R

R

SL

SL SL

SL

Oligocene

Oligocene

Basement: Cretaceous to

Paleocene accretionary complex

Miocene

Pliocene

Pliocene-Quaternary

A

B
Assessment Results

Estimates of volumes of undiscovered technically 

recoverable, conventional 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. In summary, the estimated mean volumes 

of undiscovered, technically recoverable, conventional 

oil and gas resources for the North Sakhalin Basin Province are about 5,345 million barrels (MMB) of crude oil, 

43,807 billion cubic feet (BCF) of natural gas (18,874 

BCF of associated and dissolved natural gas and 24,933 

BCF of nonassociated natural gas), and 757 MMB of 

natural gas liquids (202 MMB of natural gas liquids in oil 

accumulations and 555 MMB of total liquids in nonassociated gas accumulations).

For Further Information

Supporting geologic studies of total petroleum systems and assessment units, and reports on the methodology used in the assessment of the North Sakhalin Basin 

Province, as well as the assessment results, are available 

at the USGS Central Energy Resources Science Center 

website: http://energy.usgs.gov.

North Sakhalin Basin Province Assessment Team

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

Craig J. Wandrey, Ronald R. Charpentier, Michael E. 

Brownfield, Janet K. Pitman, Richard M. Pollastro, Troy 

A. Cook, and Marilyn E. Tennyson.

References Cited

IHS Energy, 2009 [includes data current through October 

2009], International exploration and production database: Englewood, Colo., IHS Energy.

Lindquist, S.J., 2000, The North Sakhalin Neogene Total 

Petroleum System of eastern Russia: U.S. Geological 

Survey Open-File Report 99−50−O, 18 p.

Kharakhinov, V.V., 2010, Oil-and-gas geology of the 

Sakhalin region: Moscow, Scientific World, 275 p. (in 

Russian).

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 97–470−E, CD–

ROM.

Worrel, D.M., Kruglyak, V., Kunst, F., and Kuznetsov, V., 

1996, Tertiary tectonics of the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia: 

Far-field effects of the India−Eurasian collision: Tectonics, v. 15, no. 4, p. 813−826.