RESERVES OF GASES DISSOLVED IN THE SUBSURFACE HYDROSPHERE AND THE POTENTIAL FOR THEIR EXTRACTION IN THE NEAR FUTURE

Abstract

As a result of many years of investigations, using a method that has been extensively tested in many oil and gas regions of the USSR, the author has determined the reserves of dissolved gases in the formation waters of actual and potential oil- and gas-bearing basins throughout the world Theoretical analyses have made use of both direct data from deep and ultradeep wells, and of analytical calculations based on analogy between thoroughly studied basins and those that have not been studied at all, to which are extended the known patterns of natural zoning. The most important estimates of the reserves of natural gases in formation waters of actual and potential oil and gas basins are given for Europe North and Central America South America Africa Near and Middle East South Asia Central and East Asia Southeast Asia and Occania Australia and New Zealand, and the Soviet Union. Total reserves of dissolved gases in sedimentary cover or subsurface hydrosphere are 13.837.