New Siberian Islands Islands (228 km²) lie to the north-east of Novaya Sibir. The New Siberian Islands are low-lying. Their highest point is located on Bennett island, with an elevation of 426 m. The New Siberian Islands once formed major hills within the Great Arctic Plain that covered the northern part of Late Pleistocene "Beringia" between Siberia and Alaska during the Last Glacial Maximum (Late Weichselian Epoch). These islands represent the remains of about 1.6 million square kilometers of the formerly subaerial Great Arctic Plain that now lies submerged below parts of the Arctic Ocean, East Siberian Sea, and Laptev Sea. At this
West Siberian petroleum basin wells have been drilled offshore. Undiscovered gas potential of both assessment units is very high. West Siberian petroleum basin The West Siberian petroleum basin (variously known as the West Siberian hydrocarbon province, Western Siberian oil basin, etc.) is the largest hydrocarbon (petroleum and natural gas) basin in the world covering an area of about 2.2 million km. Geographically it corresponds to the West Siberian plain. From continental West Siberia, it extends into the Kara Sea as the East-Prinovozemelsky field. The public domain U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2201-G describes the basin as follows. The basin occupies a swampy plain between the