OIL AND GAS POTENTIAL PROSPECTS OF ORENBURG SEGMENT OF MAGNITOGORSK TROUGH
The Orenburg segment of the Magnitogorsk trough is a potential petroleum area. The results of drilling and seismic survey are considered. The author's model of the carbonate basin that existed in the region during the Lower-Middle Carboniferous time is presented. Terrigenous and carbonate-terrigenous rocs have been accumulated in its coastal-marine zones. Further on the shelf there was a zone of predominantly carbonate sedimentation, where the thickness of limestones reached 1000-1300 m. Behind it, a side scarp of the carbonate massif is predicted. In a relatively deep-water uncompensated depression, thin section analogs of shelf limestones - black shales, were deposited. Isolated carbonate edifices also formed in the uncompensated depression too. The data of CDP seismic exploration for mapping oil and gas promising objects in the Lower-Middle Carboniferous strata have been evaluated. The priority tasks of further study of the prospects for the oil and gas potential of the region are outlined.