Petroleum Habitat and New Exploration Opportunities in the Frontal Part of the Polar Urals Foreland Thrust Belt

The discovery of Nertseta field, the largest oil find in Russia in 2016, has revitalized interest in petroleum potential of the frontal part of the Polar Urals thrust belt. This field includes oil pools bypassed in the past, which substantiate the reinterpretation of the legacy data with use of new geological concepts. This work showed that the critical elements in understanding of the petroleum systems are: (1) spatio-temporal relationship between trapping formation and hydrocarbon generation and expulsion; and (2) identification of the porous reservoir facies in the highly heterogeneous carbonate sequences. It is interpreted that in the northeastern part of the Polar Urals thrust belt multiple traps formed in course of the Late Permian Uralian orogeny had been destroyed by the younger structural overprint related to the Triassic Pay Khoy folding. Much better conditions for oil and gas accumulation are interpreted to be present in the southeastern part of the Polar Urals thrust belt. They include thrust related trapping configurations and salt-cored anticlines. Of prime interest are the Upper Devonian and Lower Permian reefs, their drapes, zones of karstification.