Evolution of the Barents Sea basin and oil and gas potential of coastal zones in the Kola region

The perspectives of development of the Varanger–Timan petroleum basin are considered. The Varanger–Timan oil-and-gas basin was formed in the Riphean and Vendian on the passive continental margin of the East European Plate. Evolution of the Barents–Kara region in the Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic led to a mosaic junction of the lithospheric plates having different ages and having undergone significant alterations during the Caledonian and Variscan orogenies. The spatiotemporal regularities of the interaction between geodynamic processes and conditions providing for the formation of conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon fields are described.