The left bank of the Volgograd Region tectonically includes the most submerged part of the Pachelm-Saratov avlacogen and dislocations of the Volgograd-Orenburg uplift system within the western side of the Pre-Caspian Basin. In the modern structural plan of the subsalt sedimentary complex of the studied region against the background of its regional dip to the central part of the Caspian depression, the Predbortovaya stage, the Volgograd-Yeruslansky trough, the Volgograd-Krasno-Kutsky rampart, the Akhtubinsk-Pallasovsky megaval, the Bulukhtinsky trough, and the Elton-Dzhanybeksky rampart are distinguished. Regional oil-and-gas bearing capacity of terrigenous and carbonate deposits of Devonian and Carboniferous has been proved for the Caspian depression framing zone, and in the instrumental and inner parts the main prospects of oil-and-gas bearing capacity are connected with carbonate rocks of Carboniferous age and Lower Permian. The main results of the conducted research are summarized as follows: in the regional plan the regularities of distribution and depth of occurrence of Upper Devonian-Middle Carboniferous and Lower Permian oil-and-gas bearing complexes have been determined, geological criteria and methods of forecasting of zones and areas promising for oil and gas prospecting have been substantiated. Priority tasks of planning of prospecting and exploration works in the studied region are defined.
