Siberian Shelf Siberian Shelf The Siberian Shelf, one of the Arctic Ocean coastal shelves (such as the Milne Ice Shelf), is the largest continental shelf of the Earth, a part of the continental shelf of Russia. It extends from the continent of Eurasia in the general area of North Siberia (hence the name) into the Arctic Ocean. It stretches to offshore. It is relatively shallow, with average depth of 100 m. A number of islands are within the shelf, including the Wrangel Island, Novaya Zemlya, and the New Siberian Islands. It is encompassed by the Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, and East Siberian
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