Reserve Potential of European Frontier Areas

Abstract

Abstract This paper will give a presentation of the exploration results, future activity plans and the petroleum potential of the new and promising petroleum province stretching from the Porcupine Basin west of Ireland to the Voring Basin offshore Mid Norway - "The Western Slopes". The Barents Sea from the Bear Island in the west to Novaya Zemlja in the east will also be addressed. At present this region is one of the most exciting, and seen from an oil company point of view one of the worlds most prospective petroleum province. The discoveries Schiehallion and Foinaven west of Shetland triggered a strong competition for new exploration acreage over almost the entire province. Considerable regional mapping and geological analysis have resulted in an exciting potential for both oil and may be even more for gas in both established and new exploration models, ranging from Pre-Triassic to Tertiary in age. Very large traps, both structural and stratigraphic, with direct hydrocarbon indicators can be seen in several of the bass. Exploration in the Barents Sea have so far resulted in several large gas discoveries both in Norwegian and Russian waters. Improved framework conditions may lead to a continued exploration effort for discovering commercial oil in the Norwegian sector. Still only a very limited part of this large area are explored. This paper will give an overview of both the non-discovered and discovered resources in the provinces split into different plays and individual basins. The geological evolution and main tectonic events resulting in the development of source rocks, reservoir sequences and sealing traps will be discussed. Exploration for and exploitation of oil and gas in this mainly deep water and often very remote frontier with rough climatic conditions are specially challenging for the industry. Frontier exploration status The European Frontiers are here defined as the areas extending from the Irish Porcupine Basin to the Norwegian and Russian Barents Sea. This comprise the deep water areas west of Ireland, UK and Shetlands, around the Faeroe Islands, the More and Voring Basins and the arctic waters of the Barents Sea (Figure 1). Exploration activity started in the early eighties in the Barents Sea and the Porcupine Basin, without any commercial success. In the early nineties new technology made it possible to explore also the deep water areas of the North Eastern Atlantic Margin, and the peak of activity is yet to come in the deep waters. Also the shallower areas of the Porcupine and Barents Sea Basins have seen a renewed interest for exploration during the latest years. Only a very small portion of this vast area are licensed for exploration and production activity. Exploration activity have been intense in parts of the area, and several giant discoveries of oil and gas have been made. Among them the Stocmanovskoye and Snohvit gas fields in the Barents Sea and the Schiehallion and Foinaven oil fields west of Shetland. Tectonic setting and structural development The European Frontiers display a wide variety of structural styles and geological setting. The Caledonian Orogeny, Triassic/Jurassic rifting, Cretaceous rifting and volcanism, Late Cretaceous/Early Tertiary rifting, Tertiary sea floor spreading and volcanism and Oligocene plate reorganisations are affecting the north east Atlantic Margin and the western Barents Sea. This constitute the basis for evaluating the margin as one geological province. P. 285^