National and Global Petroleum Assessment

Assessment of Continuous Oil and Gas Resources of the Timan-Pechora 

Basin Province, Russia, 2018

Introduction

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) quantitatively assessed the 

potential for undiscovered, technically recoverable continuous (unconventional) oil and gas resources in the Timan-Pechora Basin Province 

of Russia (fig. 1). The development of three petroleum systems in the 

province is related to the tectonic history (Otto and Bailey, 1995; IsmailZadeh and others, 1997; Martirosyan and others, 1998; Lindquist, 1999; 

Fossum and others, 2001; O’Leary and others, 2004; Sliaupa and others, 

2006). The progressive closure of the Uralian Ocean in the Late Permian 

to Early Jurassic led to the formation of the Ural fold and thrust belt and 

a west-facing foredeep along the fold belt. As much as 8 kilometers of 

sediment in the foredeep resulted in the thermal maturation of petroleum 

source rocks into the gas-generation window and into the oil-maturation 

window west of the foredeep. Compressional deformation in the Cretaceous effectively ended the maturation process and resulted in erosion 

of as much as 800 meters. Mild compression in the Oligocene was 

likely related to the far-field effect of the India-Eurasia plate collision. 

Uncertainty in this assessment relates to the retention of oil or gas in the 

reservoirs following compressive deformation and migration.

Total Petroleum Systems and Assessment Units

For potential continuous oil and gas resources, the USGS defined 

a Domanik Total Petroleum System (TPS) and a Denisov-Khoreyver 

Domanik Shale Oil Assessment Unit (AU) and an Izhma-Pechora 

Domanik Shale Oil AU within this TPS, an Ordovician–Lower Devonian 

Composite TPS with a Denisov-Khoreyver Shale Gas AU, and a Paleozoic Composite TPS with the Ural Foredeep Continuous Gas AU. Where 

thermally immature, shales of the Domanik TPS contain Type II kerogen, 

have total organic carbon (TOC) content of as much as 20 weight percent, have hydrogen index (HI) values of as much as 700 milligrams of 

hydrocarbon per gram (mg HC/g) of organic carbon, and are as much as 

60 meters thick (Pairazian, 1993; Banks and others, 1997; Martirosyan 

and others, 1998; Abrams and others, 1999; Tuttle and others, 1999; 

Fossum and others, 2001; He and others, 2012). The geologic model for 

the Domanik TPS is for oil generated from Domanik shales to have been 

partially retained within the shales following migration. Ordovician–

Lower Devonian Composite TPS shales contain Type II kerogen, have 

TOC contents of as much as 5 weight percent, have HI values of as much 

as 660 mg HC/g of organic carbon, and are as much as 800 meters thick 

(Pairazian, 1993; Abrams and others, 1999; Fossum and others, 2001). 

The geologic model for the Ordovician–Lower Devonian Composite TPS 

is for gas, generated from cracked oil within Ordovician, Silurian, and 

Lower Devonian source rocks, to have been partially retained within the 

source rocks following migration. The Paleozoic Composite TPS was 

defined to include all petroleum generated from any of several source 

rocks, including Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and 

Permian shales. The geologic model is for oil to have cracked to gas 

upon burial in the foredeep, and gas from these source rocks migrated 

locally into low-permeability sandstones, forming a regional, continuous 

gas accumulation. Source rocks within this TPS are variable and contain 

Type II and Type III kerogen, have TOC contents of as much as 6 weight 

percent, have HI values of as much as 580 mg HC/g of organic carbon, 

and are as much as 800 meters thick. Source rocks in this TPS possibly 

include coal beds (Ulmishek, 1982; Abrams and others, 1999).

Assessment input data are summarized in table 1. Input data for 

drainage areas, success ratios, and estimated ultimate recoveries are 

taken from geologic analogs in the United States.

Undiscovered Resources Summary

The USGS quantitatively assessed shale oil, associated gas, and 

continuous gas resources in four assessment units (table 2) in the TimanPechora Basin Province of Russia. For undiscovered, technically recoverable continuous resources, the mean totals are 1,425 million barrels of shale 

oil (MMBO), or 1.4 billion barrels of oil, with an F95–F5 fractile range 

from 330 to 3,099 MMBO; 45,721 billion cubic feet, or 46 trillion cubic 

feet of gas (BCFG), with an F95–F5 fractile range from 8,679 to 98,647 

BCFG; and 737 million barrels of natural gas liquids (MMBNGL) with an 

F95–F5 fractile range from 115 to 1,708 MMBNGL. Of the mean total of 

45,721 BCFG, about 78 percent, or 35,511 BCFG, is estimated to be in the 

Ural Foredeep Continuous Gas AU.

Figure 1. Map showing the four continuous assessment units 

(AUs) in the Timan-Pechora Basin Province of Russia. Province 

boundary is from Klett and others, 1997.

BARENTS SEA

KARA SEA

RUSSIA

40° E

65° N

45° E 50° E 55° E 60° E 65° E 70° E

60° N

0 100 200 300 MILES

0 100 200 300 KILOMETERS

Base map from U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service

EXPLANATION

Denisov-Khoreyver Shale Gas AU

Ural Foredeep Continuous Gas AU

Timan-Pechora Basin Province boundary

Izhma-Pechora Domanik Shale Oil AU

Denisov-Khoreyver Domanik Shale Oil AU

Map

area

RUS

FIN

NOR

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2018–3050

September 2018

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources 

of 1.4 billion barrels of oil and 46 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Timan-Pechora Basin Province of Russia.
Timan-Pechora Basin Province Assessment Team

Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Janet K. Pitman, Phuong A. Le, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Michael E. Brownfield, Kristen R. Marra, 

Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Ronald M. Drake II, and Timothy R. Klett

For More Information

Assessment results are also available at the USGS Energy Resources Program website at https://energy.usgs.gov.

Lindquist, S.J., 1999, The Timan-Pechora Basin Province of northwest Arctic 

Russia—Domanik, Paleozoic Total Petroleum System: U.S. Geological 

Survey Open-File Report 99–50–G, 40 p.

Martirosyan, V., Popova, L., and Vepreva, M., 1998, The petroleum systems of the 

Pechora Platform foreland, Russia: Petroleum Geoscience, v. 4, no. 4, p. 339–348.

O’Leary, N., White, N., Tull, S., Bashilov, V., Kuprin, V., Natapov, L., and 

MacDonald, D., 2004, Evolution of the Timan-Pechora and South Barents Sea 

basins: Geological Magazine, v. 141, no. 2, p. 141–160.

Otto, S.C., and Bailey, R.J., 1995, Tectonic evolution of the northern Ural 

Orogen: London, United Kingdom, Journal of the Geological Society, v. 152, 

no. 6, p. 903–906.

Pairazian, V.V., 1993, Petroleum geochemistry of the Timano-Pechora basin: 

First Break, v. 11, no. 7, p. 279–286.

Sliaupa, S., Fokin, P., Lazauskienė, J., and Stephenson, R.A., 2006, The VendianEarly Palaeozoic sedimentary basins of the East European Craton, in Gee, 

D.G., and Stephenson, R.A., eds., European lithosphere dynamics: The 

Geological Society of London, Memoirs, v. 32, p. 449–462.

Tuttle, M.L., Lillis, P.G., and Clayton, J.L., 1999, Molecular stratigraphy of 

the Devonian Domanik Formation, Timan-Pechora Basin, Russia: U.S. 

Geological Survey Open-File Report 99–379, 87 p. 

Ulmishek, G., 1982, Petroleum geology and resource assessment of the 

Timan-Pechora Basin, USSR, and the adjacent Barents-northern Kara shelf: 

Argonne National Laboratory, Energy and Environmental Division, Report 

ANL/EES–TM–199, 197 p.

Table 1. Key input data for four continuous assessment units (AUs) in the Timan-Pechora Basin Province of Russia.

[AU, assessment unit; %, percent; EUR, estimated ultimate recovery per well; MMBO, million barrels of oil; BCFG, billion cubic feet of gas. Well drainage area, success 

ratio, and EUR are defined partly using U.S. shale-oil and shale-gas analogs. The average EUR input is the minimum, median, maximum, and calculated mean. Shading 

indicates not applicable]

Assessment input data—

Continuous AUs

Denisov-Khoreyver Domanik Shale Oil AU Izhma-Pechora Domanik Shale Oil AU

Minimum Mode Maximum Calculated mean Minimum Mode Maximum Calculated mean

Potential production area of AU (acres) 1,200 4,310,000 8,620,000 4,310,400 1,200 3,614,500 7,229,000 3,614,900

Average drainage area of wells (acres) 120 180 240 180 120 180 240 180

Success ratio (%) 10 50 90 50 10 50 90 50

Average EUR (MMBO) 0.03 0.06 0.15 0.065 0.03 0.06 0.15 0.065

AU probability 1.0 1.0

Assessment input data—

Continuous AUs

Denisov-Khoreyver Shale Gas AU Ural Foredeep Continuous Gas AU

Minimum Mode Maximum Calculated mean Minimum Mode Maximum Calculated mean

Potential production area of AU (acres) 800 4,500,000 9,000,000 4,500,267 800 11,734,000 23,468,000 11,734,267

Average drainage area of wells (acres) 80 120 160 120 60 80 120 86.7

Success ratio (%) 10 50 90 50 10 50 90 50

Average EUR (BCFG) 0.2 0.5 1.0 0.522 0.2 0.5 1.0 0.522

AU probability 0.9 1.0

Table 2. Results for four continuous assessment units (AUs) in the Timan-Pechora Basin Province of Russia.

[MMBO, million barrels of oil; BCFG, billion cubic feet of gas; NGL, natural gas liquids; MMBNGL, million barrels of natural gas liquids. Results shown are fully 

risked estimates. F95 represents 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. Shading indicates not applicable]

Total petroleum systems and 

assessment units (AUs)

AU

probability

Accumulation 

type

Total undiscovered resources

Oil (MMBO) Gas (BCFG) NGL (MMBNGL)

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

Domanik Total Petroleum System

Denisov-Khoreyver Domanik Shale Oil AU 1.0 Oil 180 683 1,695 777 170 662 1,765 777 3 13 37 16

Izhma-Pechora Domanik Shale Oil AU 1.0 Oil 150 573 1,404 648 139 556 1,461 649 3 11 30 13

Ordovician–Lower Devonian Composite Total Petroleum System

Denisov-Khoreyver Shale Gas AU 0.9 Gas 0 8,003 20,180 8,784 0 155 420 175

Paleozoic Composite Total Petroleum System

Ural Foredeep Continuous Gas AU 1.0 Gas 8,370 31,889 75,241 35,511 109 455 1,221 533

Total undiscovered continuous resources 330 1,256 3,099 1,425 8,679 41,110 98,647 45,721 115 634 1,708 737

References Cited

Abrams, M.A., Apanel, A.M., Timoshenko, O.M., and Kosenkova, N.N., 1999, 

Oil families and their potential sources in the northeastern Timan Pechora 

Basin, Russia: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 83, 

no. 4, p. 553–577.

Banks, N.L., de Boer, E.T., Scott, J.M., and Sheptunov, A., 1997, The South 

Kyrtayel oilfield, Timan-Pechora basin—Geological history and preliminary 

development plan: Petroleum Geoscience, v. 3, no., 4, p. 371–378.

Fossum, B.J., Schmidt, W.J., Jenkins, D.A., Bogatsky, V.I., and Rappoport, B.I., 

2001, New frontiers for hydrocarbon production in the Timan-Pechora Basin, 

Russia, in Downey, M.W., Threet, J.C., and Morgan, W.A., eds., Petroleum 

provinces of the twenty-first century: American Association of Petroleum 

Geologists, Memoir No. 74, p. 259–279.

He, M., Moldowan, J.M., Nemchenko-Rovenskaya, A., and Peters, K.E., 2012, 

Oil families and their inferred source rocks in the Barents Sea and northern 

Timan-Pechora Basin, Russia: American Association of Petroleum Geologists 

Bulletin, v. 96, no. 6, p. 1121–1146.

Ismail-Zadeh, A.T., Kostyuchenko, S.L., and Naimark, B.M., 1997, The TimanPechora Basin (northeastern European Russia)—Tectonic subsidence analysis and 

a model of formation mechanism: Tectonophysics, v. 283, nos. 1–4, p. 205–218.

Klett, T.R., Ahlbrandt, T.S., Schmoker, J.W., and Dolton, G.L., 1997, Ranking of the world’s oil and gas provinces by known petroleum volumes: U.S. 

Geological Survey Open-File Report 97–463, 1 CD–ROM. [Also available at 

https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1997/ofr-97-463/97463.html.]

ISSN 2327-6916 (print) ISSN 2327-6932 (online) https://doi.org/10.3133/fs2013050