REGIONAL SEISMIC EXPLORATION IN ARCTIC SEAS - MAIN RESULTS OF NEW STAGE AND FURTHER PROSPECTS
Hydrocarbon potential of sedimentary basins of Arctic Seas accounts for about 80 % of ultimate potential oil and gas resources of all Russian shelf. Among problems restraining its development - insufficient geologic-geophysical study of water areas. The most density of seismic observations is concentrated in Pechora Sea and south of properly Barents Sea. The northern areas of Barents and Kara Seas have been studied by isolated reconnaissance profiles. As from 2004 the JSC Marine arctic geological exploration performs exploration works together with gravimagnetic observations on prospecting areas in seas of Arctic. The total survey volume is more than 60 000 km. As a result of carried out regional geophysical works there were revealed tens of local highs as well as zones of possible formation of non-anticlinal HC traps. The large structures of more than 1000 km<sup>2</sup> have been detected in the northern part of the Barents Sea. The localized forecast resources within the revealed uplifts in Barents, Kara, Laptev Seas account for 2500 mln tons in oil equivalent.