Geochemistry of water-soluble gases in the oil and gas bearing sediments of the zone of junction between the Yenisei-Khatanga and the West Siberian basins (the Arctic regions of Siberia)

• Published in: Georesursy
• Main Authors: Dmitry A. Novikov, Evgeny V. Borisov
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Russian
• Published: Georesursy Ltd. 2021
• Subjects: water-dissolved gases; methane homologues; gas saturation of groundwaters; gas zoning; the yenisei-khatanga basin; west siberia; the arctic; Geology; QE1-996.5; Arctic; khatanga; Siberia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.18599/grs.2021.4.1; https://doaj.org/article/fc25365602fd42c0842b05ff2bb45bb6

The results of the studies of geochemical and zoning features of water-dissolved gases in the Mesozoic sediments of the junction between the Yenisei-Khatanga and the West Siberian basins are reported. The stage of industrial oil and gas content is more than 3 km thick and involves the depth range from 750 to 4000 m. Waters occurring in the region contain methane, their total gas saturation is 0.3 to 4.6 dm3/dm3, and CH4 content in 88.9 to 95.4 vol. % on average. An increase in the concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane homologues is observed with an increase in the depth, which is accompanied by a regular decrease in the concentrations of methane and nitrogen. In general, water-dissolved gases from the Neocomian and Jurassic reservoirs have similar compositions (С1 > N2 > C2 > C3 > n-C4 > i-C4 > CO2 > i-C5 > n-C5). The water-dissolved gases of the Aptian-Albian-Cenomanian sediments are distinguished by lower concentrations of methane homologues (С1 > N2 > C2 > CO2 > C3 > i-C4 > n-C4 > i-C5 > n-C5), with the total content of heavy hydrocarbons (HHC) equal to 1.44 vol. %. Vertical zoning of the composition of water-dissolved gases is determined by the distribution of hydrocarbon pools in the Jurassic-Cretaceous section. A regular increase in the average values of the factor of enrichment with hydrocarbons (HC) (from 37 to 154) was established, along with a decrease in the ratio of CH4/ƩHHC (from 130 to 7), C2H6/C3H8 (from 41 to 2) and i-C4H10/n-C4H10 (from 2.6 to 0.6) from the Aptian-Albian-Cenomanian reservoirs to the Jurassic ones. The zone with anomalous He concentrations within the range of 0.4–0.9 vol. % was detected in the Neocomian and Middle Jurassic sediments. This zone is localized at the north-western slope of the Messoyakh inclined ridge (the Anomalnaya, Turkovskaya, Pelyatkinskaya and Sredne-Yarovskaya areas). The nature of this anomaly needs further studies.