Oil exploration in Vitebsk and Brest regions will continue in 2013

October 23, Zhlobin district / Valery Sidorchik - BELTA/. Oil exploration work in the Vitebsk and Brest regions will continue in 2013. This was announced to a BELTA correspondent by Yaroslav Gribik, chief geologist for oil and gas at the Republican Geological Exploration Unitary Enterprise "Belgeologiya". The republic has three basins containing oil-bearing rocks. These are the Pripyat Trough (Gomel and Mogilev regions), the Orsha Depression, and the basin in the Brest region. In the Pripyat Trough, the depth of oil-bearing rocks is 1.5-6 thousand meters, in the Orsha Depression - 1.5-1.7 thousand meters, and in the Brest region - 1.4-1.5 thousand meters. That is, the last two basins have not reached the so-called maturity stage for the formation of liquid hydrocarbons, noted Yaroslav Gribik. As in previous years, geological exploration work to search for oil in the Vitebsk and Brest regions will continue in 2013. "Geological materials are being accumulated. If there were clear signs of oil-bearing rocks in the Orsha Depression, we would already be drilling there," said the chief geologist. This year, "Belgeologiya" has fulfilled its planned targets for an increase in industrial oil reserves by 400 thousand tons, which is 25% of the annual oil production volume in Belarus. Currently, Belarus has 77 explored oil fields. More than 64% of the remaining reserves are difficult to extract. The main volume of oil production comes from five fields that were discovered back in the 1960s-1970s. -0-