Problems of shale oil hydrocarbons, ultra-viscous oil reservoirs and natural bitumen deposits development in Tatarstan

Abstract

© Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd. The area of the Volga-Ural oil and gas basin belongs to the "old" oil and gas bearing regions. The most part of easily recoverable reserves of large and unique oil fields already have been developed within the area. Therefore, super-viscous oil reservoirs, natural bitumen deposits and shale hydrocarbons seized the attention of local petroleum geologists. Tatarstan is a classic example in that sense. The Republic of Tatarstan is a leader in the development of heavy oil resources, a leader in the degree of knowledge of natural bitumen accumulations, as well as a leader in technological readiness for their development. In the depths of Tatarstan, there are more than 450 fields of ultra-viscous oil and natural bitumen with reserves ranging from 2 to 7 billion tons of this type of hydrocarbons. However, their industrial development due to low profitability is slow. To solve the problem, it is necessary to search for and commercialize economically viable technologies for the production, transportation and processing of hydrocarbons, which take into account its features and do not require increased energy and other material costs. Therefore, the search for the right unconventional hydrocarbons production concept is an urgent problem of our time.