Lower Permian Carbonate Buildups in the Northern Timan–Pechora Basin as the Main Hydrocarbon Exploration Object

• Published in: Lithology and Mineral Resources
• Main Authors: Zhemchugova, V., Evdokimov, N., Poort, Jeffrey, Akhmanov, G.
• Other Authors: Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), Special Geophysical Data Systems, Institut des Sciences de la Terre de Paris (iSTeP), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: Timan–Pechora petroliferous basin; carbonate buildups; Lower Permian; microbial and skeletal mounds; reservoirs; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; Pechora
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03956517; https://doi.org/10.1134/S0024490220040069

International audience Organogenic buildups named as carbonate mounds are widespread in Lower Permian deposits in the northern Timan–Pechora basin and are of great interest to the oil-and-gas industry as natural hydrocarbon reservoirs. Their distribution and textural features were controlled by seabed morphology, sea level changes, and specific paleoecology of the Early Permian period. In contrast to classic reefs, these buildups were not able to form large accumulative landforms that changed the hydrodynamics and paleogeography of sedimentary basins. The results of this study allowed us to divide the Lower Permian carbonate buildups into two types: (1) skeletal mounds formed primarily by algae and Palaeoaplysina communities; (2) microbial mounds composed of microbial assemblages. Identification of these mounds based on seismic data usually does not meet any difficulties. However, their texture, peculiarities of reservoir distribution, and variations of their properties are often unreflected in the characteristics of seismic waves due to limitations of the seismic survey resolution. The sedimentation modeling describes spatiotemporal relationships of the identified lithofacies characterized by different reservoir potential. Application of these results during the seismic interpretation increases significantly reliability of the forecast of carbonate reservoir properties.