Geology, geography and global energy

Scientific and Technical Journal

Evaluation of Geo-ecological Processes Acting on an Object within a Caspian Field Site

2012. №4, pp. 81-88

Mercheva Valentina S. - C.Sc. in Technology, Associate Professor, Astrakhan State University, 20a Tatishchev st., Astrakhan, Russian Federation, 414000, geologi2007@yandex.ru

Serebryakov Oleg I. - D.Sc. in Geology and Mineralogy, Professor, Astrakhan State University, 20a Tatishchev st., Astrakhan, Russian Federation, 414000, geologi2007@yandex.ru

Smirnova Tatyana S. - C.Sc. in Geology and Mineralogy, Astrakhan State University, 20a Tatishchev st., Astrakhan, Russian Federation, 414000, geologi2007@yandex.ru

Serebryakova Valentina I. - Post-graduate student, Astrakhan Institute of Construction and Engineering, 18 Tatishchev st., Astrakhan, Russian Federation, 414056, geologi2007@yandex.ru

Isenbulatova Rumina R. - Student, Astrakhan State University, 20a Tatishchev st., Astrakhan, Russian Federation, 414000, geologi2007@yandex.ru

The article notes that Russia currently has more than 20 prospective major oil and gas sites and 36 open fields, including the Rusanovskoye, Shtokman and Leningradskoye gas fields (in the Western Arctic), and those on the Sakhalin shelf and around the Caspian basin. The latter appear to be one of the most promising hydrocarbon production sites discovered in the 21st century. The critique relates that the resource base is of comparable size to the overall hydrocarbon reserves in the North Sea, but more congenial from climactic and physiographic perspectives. These two factors, it notes, have influenced the development of medium- to long-term economic activities – primary ones, including fisheries and agriculture, plus secondary oil, condensate and gas-related ones – in the Caspian basin. At this stage, the presentation refocuses on data acquired from a systematic toxicological analysis of the environmental conditions in the northern (Russian) sector of that aquatic body. This information shows that the Sea has a reduced level of hydrocarbon pollution and heavy metals, but an inflated one of phenolic compounds. In conclusion, the analysis has rated as ’satisfactory’ the existing eco-environmental conditions in the Caspian basin’s northern sector, with this assessment undertaken during both developmental and production periods of its hydrocarbon fields.

Key words: continental shelf,oil and gas,Caspian region,natural reserves,protected territory,license area,sub-province

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