A justification is given for the most effective direction of geological exploration work - search and exploration of new oil deposits in Upper Devonian reefs, which will allow to fill the raw material base in the old oil-producing area in the north of the Volgograd region. Prognostication, search and exploration of oil and gas deposits in carbonate sediments are determined by the specificity of lithologic-facial composition and physical properties of reservoir rocks and coverings, paleogeographic setting of their accumulation, conditions of realization of oil-gas-maternal potential of Devonian deposits, structural conditions of their occurrence and specific features of formation in them hydrocarbon (HC) deposits. The three-member structure of hydrocarbon deposits in fossil reefs has been established and the role of the false cover (Umetovsko-Linevskaya strata) in the formation and destruction of hydrocarbon deposits in the Evlanovsko-Livensky carbonate sediments has been determined. When predicting the location of the reef and the oil deposit in it with the calculated parameters in terms of area and height, the methodology proposed by the author, based on the analysis of the structural surface of the roof of the Umentov-Linevskaya formation (false cap), was used. On the basis of the studies conducted, the areas of the Dobrinsky-Suvodsky barrier riffogenic system of the Upper Devonian complex of carbonate rocks and the inner zones of the Umetovsko-Linevskaya depression are referred to highly promising lands.
