CarbMed GIS: a GIS Project for Basin and Play Focus Exploration of the Mediterranean Carbonates

Abstract

Summary The Mediterranean is characterized by a wide range of carbonate petroleum systems. In this work, we present a synthesis of these carbonate petroleum systems, based on data contained within CarbMed GIS, a tool for geological and E&P data synthesis and knowledge management that supports the full range of hydrocarbon exploitation activities. The GIS project consists of geological data (e.g. logs, wells, sections, maps, fields) associated with a comprehensive geo-database, which provides information on stratigraphy, sedimentology, diagenesis, fluid parameters and petroleum system elements. In the Greater Mediterranean area, 26 proven petroleum systems that include hydrocarbons reservoired in shallow marine and basinal carbonate reservoirs have been identified and mapped. Within each one of these, a number of carbonate plays have been identified and described based on reservoir characteristics. Results show an asymmetrical framework of petroleum systems and play across the Mediterranean provinces, with the northern area dominated by plays associated with the large and long-lived isolated carbonate platforms of Adria and sourced primarily by deep water and intraplatform basin carbonate source rocks and the southern and eastern areas characterized by plays associated with smaller sized carbonate systems that were deposited on mixed carbonate-clastic shelves.