The process of mineral prospecting and exploration involves a large number of financial risks, which requires to be armed with substantial amount of data before starting the works. This is particularly true in the context of the depleted fund of easily discovered deposits. The importance of geological, geophysical, geochemical, mining and drilling methods is increasing under continuous geological exploration that demands the methods to be more and more efficient. The geographic information systems and databases has long become an integral part of geological prospecting. Moreover, they have a significant impact on reducing the time for preparation and executing works at the initial stages of ore deposit prospecting and exploration. The database including graphical and attributive data is the main component of any geological prospecting work. The capability, productivity and efficiency of the system as well as resulting effectiveness of geological prospecting largely depend on the correctness of the developed database structure. The purpose of the study was to present the analysis results of the developed approach for effective management of geological exploration data from the early stages to the end of the project, which will enable maximally efficient work performance with minimal time expenditures. This concerns the creation of a unified database structure and data processing systems to be employed in geological exploration works at various sites without developing an individual database for a specific territory or for different prospecting methods.

Well construction and operation is often complicated by the occurrence of formation fluids and their movement through the annulus as a result of poor-quality cementing. It is possible to reduce costs and time for eliminating behind-thecasing and inter-casing flows significantly due to effective preventing of these phenomena. The purpose of the research is to present the analysis results of the factors causing the development of the formation fluid flow channels during cementing as well as to find a solution to the problem of well annulus flows. The research involved the examination of the mechanisms of the processes occurring under cement slurry evolution in the well annuluses under well-casing, existing methods for solving the problem of formation fluid migration, as well as the ways to prevent them. The authors propose a method preventing the formation of migration channels, which they think is the most promising to eliminate the adverse effects of the named problem. To implement the method, the operation principle of the OFITE laboratory installation is analyzed as well as the modeling method for cement slurry borehole conditions. The graphs obtained as a result of cement tests and their interpretation are given. It has been determined that in most cases cement systems not modified by appropriate reagents are not able to restrain fluid migration during the transition from liquid to solid state. Moreover, fluid migration occurs during a critical period under cement setting after 3–8 hours of hardening. As a result of the work carried out, it was revealed that the chosen method of evaluating and modifying of cement systems makes it possible to increase the potential for an effective solution of the problem of formation fluid migration by decreasing the probability of behind-the-casing flow formation.

The drilling cycle of any well is accompanied by the production of a huge amount of waste containing chemicals and reagents, which are main potential causes of large-scale environmental pollution. The positive trend in the growth of the on-shore exploration and production drilling associated with the need to maintain oil production in our country clearly shows an increase in the volume of drilling waste, which is predominantly accumulated in slurry ponds. The problem of constantly growing volumes of drilling waste disposal and recycling together with the need to comply with strict requirements of environmental protection measures requires the use of innovative and integrated approaches. To solve the problems of this kind, the concept of drilling waste disposal in tectonically screened traps has been developed. It offers an efficient and safe way of drilling waste disposal via the implementation of the principle of waste “zero discharge” into the environment, which increases its relevance since the environmental control standards are becoming stricter for both onshore and offshore drilling. The purpose of this study is to present the analysis results of the benefits of drilling waste injection into tectonically screened traps as compared with other possible underground disposal methods. The article deals with the features of the preparatory stage of this method and the application experience of the technology described. A set of equipment of the Russian company for the preparation and injection of drilling waste into the reservoir is presented. Using the case of a geological section, an example of a well is given, which with high probability has been drilled into a tectonically screened trap and is promising for drilling waste injection.

The purpose of the work is to present the analysis results of the research conducted to determine the influence degree of heterogeneity indicators on the efficiency of productivity index prediction using the differentiated analysis for three large stratigraphic units confined to carbonate reservoirs of the Volga-Ural oil and gas province. At the initial stage of solving the problem, two data samples were taken, which consisted of geological and field information of various completeness. Using the formulas received before, a search for analogous objects for a smaller sample of deposits was carried out. Next, having different input data, the authors obtained analytical dependences for predicting the cleaning time of the bottomhole formation zone for three large systems. The latter were later modified using widespread and single accounting of four parameters of complex heterogeneity characterizing porosity and permeability of productive formations. The application criteria were identified for the obtained models to solve the problems of oil field development. The conclusions regarding the cleaning mechanisms of the bottomhole formation zone and productivity index prediction in various geological systems were drawn. Particular attention was paid to the need for in-depth analysis of the hierarchical representation of the identified three systems: by tiers and horizons in order to find the patterns of parameter changes within small groups and a generalized assessment of the effect of heterogeneity on the productivity index.

The purpose of the research is to consider the methodology for obtaining and possible using of photogrammetric processing of aerial photography data from an unmanned aerial vehicle in order to construct a digital model of the marble quarry bench slope as well as to determine bench fracturing characteristics from the obtained images. The study included aerial photography of the explored bench using photogrammetric data processing, creation of digital terrain models in Agisoft software, and plotting a diagram of bench fracturing on the basis of the images received. The stability margin factor of the bench slope was calculated using the GeoStab, Plaxis and Geomix software. To evaluate, control and compare the results obtained, the stability coefficient was calculated using the classical method. It was found that Plaxis 2D and GeoStab software are more efficient in determining the stability coefficient for the case of homogeneous soil masses free from pronounced geodynamic disturbances. The Geomix software takes into account both the geodynamic characteristics of a homogeneous bench of the quarry slope and its fracturing nature, which allows more accurate determination of the stability margin coefficient of the bench, more precise prediction of potential locations of failures and sliding rock mass parameters. It has been determined that the methods of photogrammetric processing of images obtained from an unmanned aerial vehicle allow to perform more accurate simulation of the studied slopes and to obtain reliable data on the slope fracturing faster. The latter has a positive effect on the quality of slope stability calculation and prediction of its deformation, which is an important factor in improving the safety of mining production.

Petromagnetic and paleomagnetic studies of oriented samples from the main petrophysical taxa of the Komsomolskaya pipe diamond deposit (kimberlites, different-phase basites and terrigenous carbonate formations) were carried out in order to build a petrophysical model and solve various geological and geophysical problems on its basis: analysis of the behavior of the observed gravimagnetic field for diamond prospecting areas of geotypes 4 and 5, paleomagnetic dating of magmatic events, geodynamic reconstructions, etc. The features of the structural relationship of the petrophysical taxa of the deposit influenced the distribution of their physical properties which, as a result, affected the nature of the observed gravitational and magnetic fields. It is shown that when using vector parameters of petrophysical taxa in the “method of subtracting” potential fields from interference objects (basites of the Tunguska syneclise) it is possible to obtain a “pipe type” anomaly from the prospecting object (kimberlite pipe). In addition, based on the petrophysical model, the existence of gravimagnetic anomalies genetically related to the structures of the diatremic association - anomalies of the structural type, which should be taken into account in the process of interpreting geophysical survey data within the Yakutia diamondiferous province, was proved. Titanomagnetites have been identified as magnetization carrier minerals in dolerites, while kimberlites have a more diverse spectrum – magnetites, titanomagnetites, ilmenites and chrome spinelides. In the course of step-by-step demagnetization and subsequent component analysis of the vectors of natural residual magnetization, virtual geomagnetic poles were obtained characterizing the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field at the time of introduction of kimberlites and basites. This makes it possible to establish not only the temporal sequence of tectono-magmatic events that formed the Komsomolskaya diamond deposit but also to clarify their scenario for the Yakutsk diamondiferous province as a whole. The paleomagnetic data on kimberlites of the Komsomolskaya pipe are in good agreement with the paleomagnetic data obtained on the basalts of the Upper Devonian D3ap Appai Formation basalts (Frasnian, 385–375 Ma) and the pre-ore dike of dolerites of the Vilyuiko-Markhi intrusive complex of the Mir mine (373.5 Ma) which may indicate its relatively early age and, possibly, a deeper level of erosion section. Paleomagnetic reconstructions have shown that the epochs of kimberlite and trap formation correspond to the current position of hot spots which can be used as a basis for predicting new kimberlite fields on the Siberian platform.

The purpose of the research is to identify the degree and nature of the geological heterogeneity impact on deposit productivity in order to use the obtained patterns in solving fundamental problems of oil field development considering different density of geological and field information and drastically uneven data of well operation. The object of the study is the Famennian stage deposits of the South Tatar arch located within the Volga-Ural oil and gas province. The use of the elements of multidimensional regression modeling allowed to obtain the dependences of deposit productivity on the number of geological and field parameters resulting in the establishment of the following features: the degree of parameters influence on productivity varies in the conditions of selected groups of identical objects; there are some cases featuring the different nature of parameter influence, which proves the relevance and necessity of implementing differentiation procedures when making a forecast in order to reduce the risks of making ineffective management decisions. The presented results can be used for reasonable estimation of deposit capacity at the stage of their commissioning. Since the error of the presented models is a quarter higher than the one of the models including the indicators of geological heterogeneity, it is quite reasonable to use them for drafting the first project documents as they allow subsoil users to successfully formulate an optimal approach to the implementation of an effective field development system.

The purpose of this research was to present the results of petroelastic modeling of the Bashkirian and Vereiskian deposits of the oil field in the Republic of Tatarstan. To solve the problem of modeling elastic properties of the object under study (density, P-wave velocity and S-wave velocity), a self-consistent approximation model of effective moduli was used. The initial stage of petroelastic modeling included the selection of candidate wells and a reference well. To do this, the reliability of logging material in all wells was evaluated. The well with the most complete and accurate geological and geophysical information was selected. Then a petrophysical model was created by calculating filtration and reservoir properties and determining the formation volume factors of the rock components. Elastic property modeling began with the creation of a density curve on the basis of geophysical and petrophysical data. At this stage the petrophysical model was

evaluated. The choice of the petroelastic model was based on theoretical and experimental methods. The efficiency of the chosen model was confirmed by the convergence of modeling results with the recorded well data. The modeling resulted in obtaining the curves of elastic parameter distribution over the studied geological section. A good correlation was received between the initial data of geophysical studies of wells and model curves. The obtained results made it possible to improve the quality of available geophysical material, as well as to recreate elastic properties in wells not using the methods of direct recording.