Revisiting the Development of Oil Deposits with Low Permeability Reservoirs

Background/Objectives: The study considers the results of the scientific revolution that started in Russia a quarter of a century ago and referred to solving the problem of oil and gas genesis. Methods: The revolution resulted in the development of the new oil and gas paradigm. The essence of this paradigm is that oil and gas are in fact renewable natural resources that should be produced taking into account the balance of the generated hydrocarbons (HC) and the possibilities for their recovery in the process of field development. Findings: These new ideas have gained the required theoretical and experimental justification within the biosphere concept of oil and gas generation (BCOG). However, neither the scientific revolution in oil and gas geology nor the implications that follow from the biosphere concept and that directly affect future oil and gas science and practices have been fully perceived in the West. Employing the biosphere concept ideas in the processes of developing oil and gas fields with low permeability reservoirs reveals new and better opportunities. These ideas have been confirmed by the results of the undertaken laboratory investigations and numerical simulation studies. Applications/Improvements: The results of the study make it possible to improve the efficiency of oil recovery considerably.