Geology and petroleum potential of the east Barents Sea Basins and Admiralty Arch

The US Geological Survey (USGS) recently assessed the potential for undiscovered oil and gas resources of the East Barents Basins and Novaya Zemlya Basins and Admiralty Arch Provinces as part of the USGS Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal. These two provinces are located NE of Scandinavia and the northwestern Russian Federation, on the Barents Sea Shelf between Novaya Zemlya to the east and the Barents Platform to the west. Three assessment units (AUs) were defined in the East Barents Basins for this study – Kolguyev Terrace Assessment Unit (AU), South Barents Basin and Ludlov Saddle AU, and North Barents Basin AU. A fourth, defined as Novaya Zemlya Basins and Admiralty Arch AU, is coincident with the Novaya Zemlya basins and Admiralty Arch Province. These AUs, all lying north of the Arctic Circle, were assessed for undiscovered, technically recoverable resources resulting in total estimated mean volumes of approximately 7.4 billion barrels of crude oil, 318 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 1.4 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.