Barents Sea Geology, Petroleum Resources and Commercial Potential

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Geologically, the Barents Sea is a complex mosaic of basins and platforms. It underwent intracontinental sedimentation from about 240 million years ago to the early Cenozoic, about 60 million years ago, after which it bordered the developing Atlantic and Arctic oceans.Geophysical investigations began during the 1970s, and the first offshore drilling occurred in the early 1980s. In Norwegian waters, drilling has proven 260 -300 billion cubic meters of gas, with minor oil. Most of the reserves are contained in Jurassic sandstones. Exploration problems include the predominance of gas over oil and leakage of hydrocarbons from traps in recent geological time; both are connected with the intense erosion of the Barents Shelf that took place during the Cenozoic. Exploration efforts currently focus on new targets in areas such as the Finnmark Platform, the Nordkapp Basin, the Western Margin, and the area between 74˚30'N and Spitsbergen. Oil accumulations have been discovered in Russian waters offshore from the TimanPechora Basin. However, major sedimentary basins west of Novaya Zemlya have yielded the most significant results. The largest finds include the Stokmanovskaya and Ludlovskaya supergiant gas fields. Stokmanovskaya alone has gas reserves in the order of 2500 billion cubic meters. Seismic surveys have documented a large inventory of untested structures, and further resources are probably present in the disputed area between Norwegian and Russian waters.Options for commercial development of both Norwegian and Russian discoveries are currently being evaluated. These include the possible export of liquefied natural gas from the Norwegian Snøhvit Field to the European market. A consortium has carried out feasibility studies on the Russian Stokmanovskaya Field, and gas export solutions are being evaluated. In general, economic exploitation is hindered by the low price of natural gas, the distance to potential markets, difficult logistics, restricted drilling seasons and environmental concerns.Key words: Arctic Ocean, Barents Sea, hydrocarbon potential, natural gas, Russia, Norway RÉSUMÉ. Du point de vue géologique, la mer de Barents est une mosaïque complexe de bassins et de plates-formes. Elle a subi une sédimentation intracontinentale depuis il y a près de 240 millions d'années jusqu'au cénozoïque inférieur, il y a environ 60 millions d'années, après quoi, elle a bordé les océans Atlantique et Arctique en formation.Des recherches géophysiques ont débuté au cours des années 1970, et le premier forage en mer a eu lieu au début des années 80. Dans les eaux norvégiennes, le forage a révélé des réserves prouvées de 260 à 300 milliards de mètres cubes de gaz, contenant un peu de pétrole. La plupart des réserves sont renfermées dans des grès du jurassique. La prédominance du gaz par rapport au pétrole et la dispersion d'hydrocarbures à partir de pièges formés au cours d'une période géologique récente comptent parmi les problèmes liés à l'exploration; ils sont tous deux reliés à l'érosion intensive de la plate-for...

A flexural isostasy model for the Pleistocene evolution of the Barents Sea bathymetry

“…One of the key objectives of the modelling is to understand to what degree the topography has been influenced by the regional isostatic adjustments to glacial erosion and deposition. In addition, we aim to provide new arguments in the discussion of tectonic vs. isostatic contributions to the Barents Sea uplift (Nyland et al, 1992;Doré, 1995;Doré & Jensen, 1996;Rasmussen & Fjeldskaar, 1996;Cavanagh et al, 2006;Henriksen et al, 2011).…”

Geology and Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the East Barents Basins Province and the Novaya Zemlya Basins and Admiralty Arch Province, 2008

“…Closure of the Iapetus Ocean began in the Late Cambrian and Early Ordovician (~500 Ma) before the Caledonian orogeny, which began in the middle and late Silurian (~420 Ma; Aplonov and others, 1996) and culminated in the Early Devonian (~400 Ma; Doré, 1995). The locations of the Caledonian suture zone and deformation front in the study area are shown in figure 2.…”

Prestack inversion and multiattribute analysis for porosity, shale volume, and sand probability in the Havert Formation of the Goliat field, southwest Barents Sea

“…The most significant structural feature of a regional extent cutting across the Goliat field is the Troms-Finnmark Fault Complex (TFFC) in the southern margin of the Hammerfest Basin (Figure 1a). The TFFC has a series of listric normal faults (Faleide et al, 1984;Dore, 1995). The Goliat field forms a rollover anticline structure along the TFFC.…”