23 October, Zhlobin District /Valery Sidorchik - BELTA/. Oil exploration work in the Vitebsk and Brest regions will continue in 2013. This was announced to a BELTA correspondent by Yaroslav Gribik, Chief Geologist for Oil and Gas at the Republican Geological Exploration Unitary Enterprise "Belgeologiya". The republic has three basins containing oil-bearing rocks. These are the Pripyat Trough (Gomel and Mogilev regions), the Orsha Depression, and the basin in the vicinity of the city of Brest. In the Pripyat Trough, the depth of oil-containing rocks ranges from 1.5 to 6 thousand metres, in the Orsha Depression - from 1.5 to 1.7 thousand metres, and in the Brest region - from 1.4 to 1.5 thousand metres. This means the latter two basins have not reached the so-called maturity stage for the formation of liquid hydrocarbons, noted Yaroslav Gribik. As in previous years, geological exploration work for oil in the Vitebsk and Brest regions will continue in 2013. "Geological materials are being accumulated. If clear signs of oil-bearing rocks had been found in the Orsha Depression, we would already be drilling there," said the chief geologist. This year, "Belgeologiya" has fulfilled its planned targets for increasing industrial oil reserves by 400 thousand tonnes, which accounts for 25% of the annual oil production volume in Belarus. Currently, Belarus has 77 explored oil fields. More than 64% of the remaining reserves are difficult to extract. The main volume of oil production comes from five fields that were discovered back in the 1960s-1970s. -0-

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