PETROLEUM POTENTIAL PROSPECTS OF THE BALTIC SEA SHELF
The interest in the study of petroleum potential prospects of the Baltic Sea shelf and the choice of priority exploration objects in this part of the region, including the offshore zones of Lithuania and Latvia, has been recently growing. Especially this evolution is connected with the recent successes of the LUKOIL oil company in the Russian sector of the Baltic, and the discovery of several oil fields in the recent years. The information on the current state of geological and geophysical study of the region (primarily within the former Baltic Sea Soviet sector) is given on the basis of data analysis of the last years. The main results of shelf oil exploration in recent years are provided; the geological structure and petroleum potential are characterized; and the promising directions of work are proposed.