126 trillion barrels of oil equivalent biomass in Bazhenov Oil shale in Russia
The Bazhenov Formation (Tithonian to Berriasian) occupies about 1 million km 2 in the central part of the West Siberian plate and is buried by 2,000 to 3,000 meters of younger sediments. The aggregate mass of organic matter in the Bazhenov Formation is as high as 18 trillion tons (126 trillion barrels of oil equivalent). It is known as one of the largest oil sources in the world. About 500 samples from 39 oil wells throughout the formation were analyzed; it was shown that Bazhenov rocks contain more U, Mo, V, Cu, Zn, and Ni than average black shales; moreover, the concentrations of these elements increase toward the center of the paleobasin.
There can be 6 to 8 barrels of oil in a ton, depending on density.
This is a follow up on a prior article that detailed the Bazhenov is similar to the Bakken Oil formation in North Dakota but covers 80 times the land
The formation feeds conventional oil fields. Those conventional oilfields have over 144 billion barrels of oil. There have been some wells drilled into the Bazhenov tight oil area and those are producing 400 barrels of oil per day, which is similar to the productivity of Bakken oil wells.
Geopolitical implication
Russia has the potential to develop the Bazhenov Formation to remain and energy superpower for another 100 years.