THE PALEOZOIC SEDIMENTS OF THE FERGANA BASIN: THEIR POTENTIAL FOR OIL AND GAS
The Paleozoic deposits of Central Asia, including the Fergana basin, are considered by most investigators to be basement rocks, strongly deformed and highly metamorphosed, and as such to offer no prospects for discovering significant deposits of oil or gas. However, up till now, the Paleozoic sediments of the Fergana basin, or for that matter of the whole of Central Asia, have not been studied specifically from the aspect of their possible petroleum content, although there are many positive examples in the area. The author has made an attempt to analyze the composition and the structural-textural features of these sediments in order to determine the reservoir properties of the rocks and the possible accumulation of hydrocarbons in them. Geochemical, lithological, petrographic, and geological data are described. The author asserts that the data point to the Karatau-Guzan-Korachatyr zone, a deep trough with thick Paleozoic clastic and carbonate sequences which contain organic matter, to a certain degree transformed into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons, as the primary target for drilling to test the petroleum prospects of the Paleozoic sediments. 10 references, 1 figure.