The petroleum potential of the Riphean–Vendian succession of southern East Siberia

The Siberian Platform covers an area of c. 4.5 million km² in the East Siberia region of Russia, up to 3.5 million km² of which is prospective for hydrocarbons. We review the Archaean to Neoproterozoic evolution of the Siberian Platform and the potential oil and gas resources of Riphean, Vendian and Infracambrian sediments. The Riphean was dominated by passive margin sedimentation and was intensely deformed during the Baikalian orogeny. Vendian strata record a clastic transgressive sequence and the eventual re-establishment of carbonate platform sedimentation. The late Vendian–early Cambrian is characterized by carbonate deposition including thick salt horizons, which form a regional seal. Hydrocarbon maturation and migration from Riphean and Vendian source rocks occurred during the late Neoproterozoic and Early Palaeozoic, indicating that hydrocarbon reservoirs on the Siberian Platform may have hosted their reserves over a remarkable period of geological time. Despite many years of hydrocarbon exploration in East Siberia, many regions remain under-explored, and aspects of the proven hydrocarbon systems are poorly understood. There are undoubtedly more major discoveries to be made in the region, and the Infracambrian succession of the southern Siberian Platform therefore represents an irresistible target for further hydrocarbon exploration.