On the necessity of reviewing maps of tectonic and oil-gas geological zoning of depressive regions of Azerbaijan

Abstract

For more than twenty years ago, “Tectonic map of oil-gas bearing regions of Azerbaijan” and “Oil-gas geological zoning and oil-gas bearing perspectives of Azerbaijan” maps were published. When compiling them, along with the latest geological and geophysical data accumulated by that time (2003), the following maps were also used: “Oil and gas fields and promising structures of the Azerbaijan SSR” (1985), “Oil and gas potential of the Azerbaijan SSR” (1987) and the corresponding explanatory notes to them. Since then, the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea has again been covered by 2D seismic on a regional scale with a network density of seismic profiles of 2.5x2.5 km. On the land territory of Azerbaijan, a number of regional seismic profiles were developed using innovative technologies; the surveys continued to bring the discovered prospective objects into deep drilling. Based on the results of industrial and scientific research, the geological structure of the territory of Azerbaijan, including individual areas of depression zones and the water area of the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, has been clarified. All these facts substantiate the necessity to generalize geological and geophysical data, particularly the map of oil and gas geological zoning. The paper discusses the results of interpretation of the up-to-date geological-geophysical data justifying the necessity of updating the map of “Oil-gas geological zoning and oil-gas bearing potential of Azerbaijan”. It is recommended to use the main property of hydrocarbon system while updating this map: Source formation → channels (ways) of fluid migration → reservoirs (hydrocarbon traps) > fluid seal (cover layers).