Exploration play statistics in the Southern North Sea region of The Netherlands and UK

2021 ◽  
pp. SP494-2020-200
Author(s):  
David G. Quirk ◽  
Stuart G. Archer
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Lower Cretaceous ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Petroleum Exploration ◽  
Upper Carboniferous ◽  
Northern Margin ◽  
Southern North Sea ◽  
Average Size ◽  
Zechstein Salt

AbstractThis paper presents the historical results of onshore and offshore petroleum exploration in the Anglo-Dutch Basin of the Southern North Sea. A total recoverable resource of 220 tcfe has been discovered within a contiguous area of 85,000km2, 73% of which occurs in The Netherlands. The resource is predominantly gas (207 tcf), sourced from Upper Carboniferous coals, although the youngest play is oil, sourced from Lower Jurassic shales.There are five plays, partitioned by late Permian-age (Zechstein) salt. In terms of discovered resource they are ranked 1) Rotliegend aeolian-fluvial sandstones (443 gas discoveries, 417 bcfe average size), 2) Triassic fluvial sandstones (101 gas discoveries, 140 bcfe average), 3) Lower Cretaceous paralic-shallow marine sandstones (61 oil discoveries, 29 MMboe average), 4) Westphalian fluvial sandstones (70 gas discoveries, 88 bcfe average), and 5) Zechstein carbonates (51 gas discoveries, 83 bcfe average). Although the main Rotliegend fairway is mature, there are probably discoveries yet to be made in the Westphalian and Zechstein plays and possibly within the Triassic and Lower Cretaceous plays. There is also potential to extend the Rotliegend play beyond where it is proven, for example along the northern margin of the basin and towards its centre

Halokinetic initiation of Mesozoic tectonics in the southern North Sea: a regional model

1994 ◽  
Vol 131 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. Allen ◽  
P. A. Griffiths ◽  
J. Craig ◽  
W. R. Fitches ◽  
R. J. Whittington
Keyword(s):  
Fault Zone ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Fault Zones ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Northern Margin ◽  
Southern North Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Zechstein Salt ◽  
Shape Changes

AbstractThe North Dogger Fault Zone is located at the northern margin of the UK Southern North Sea Basin, at the edge of the mobile Zechstein Supergroup, and was particularly active during late Triassic and early Jurassic times. It resembles geometrically, and is related tectonically to, the Dowsing Fault Zone which was initiated in late Scythian time along the southwestern edge of the mobile salt. It is proposed that both of these basin-bounding fault systems were initiated in response to the buoyant growth of salt swells in the centre of the Southern North Sea Basin. Passive folding of the Triassic strata over the swells, which accommodated the shape changes caused by halokinesis, led to extension on the fault zones at the edge of the mobile Zechstein salt.

scholarly journals A southern North Sea Miocene dinoflagellate cyst zonation

2004 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 267-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.K. Munsterman ◽  
H. Brinkhuis
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
North Sea ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
The South ◽  
Dinoflagellate Cyst ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Southern North Sea ◽  
Age Model

AbstractAn integrated stratigraphical analysis emphasizing organic-walled dinoflagellate cyst (dinocyst) distribution has been carried out on multiple boreholes penetrating the Miocene in the subsurface of the Netherlands (southern North Sea Basin). The bulk of the investigated successions is attributed to the Breda Formation, a regional lithostatigraphical unit most complete in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands. In concert with a first regional integrated bio (chrono) sequence-stratigraphical framework, fourteen informal dinocyst zones for the southern North Sea Miocene (SNSM), and three subzones are proposed for the Breda Formation. By also integrating (chrono)stratigraphic information from Mediterranean and North Atlantic dinocyst studies a first ever detailed age-model is here proposed for the Miocene in the subsurface of the Netherlands.

Comparative Analysis of Salt Structures in the Southern North Sea, Dutch Offshore, the Netherlands

Geotectonics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 807-820
Author(s):  
M. A. F. Miraj ◽  
A. Ali ◽  
N. Ahsan ◽  
Sh. Afgan ◽  
R. F. Saleem
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Southern North Sea

scholarly journals A note on the Early Cretaceous biostratigraphy (foraminifera) of borehole 49/24-1 (Shell/Esso) in the southern North Sea

1984 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Crittenden
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Lower Cretaceous ◽  
Southern North Sea

Abstract. Borehole 49/24-1 (Shell/Esso), which is the reference borehole for the Lower Cretaceous Cromer Knoll Group in the southern North Sea, is subdivided lithostratigraphically and biostratigraphically. The resulting stratigraphy is briefly compared to onshore U.K. outcrop and borehole sections of comparable age and lithofacies. The regional stratigraphical implications for the correlation of offshore and onshore sections of Lower Cretaceous (Albian) strata are briefly discussed.

Late Palaeozoic to Early Cenozoic geological evolution of the northwestern German North Sea (Entenschnabel): New results and insights

2014 ◽  
Vol 93 (4) ◽  
pp. 147-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jashar Arfai ◽  
Fabian Jähne ◽  
Rüdiger Lutz ◽  
Dieter Franke ◽  
Christoph Gaedicke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Lower Cretaceous ◽  
Late Jurassic ◽  
Structural Element ◽  
The North ◽  
Sedimentary Evolution ◽  
Basin Subsidence ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Thickness Variations ◽  
Zechstein Salt

AbstractThe results of a detailed seismic mapping campaign of 13 horizons in the northwestern German North Sea, covering Late Permian to Palaeogene sedimentary successions, are presented. Based on the interpretation of four 3D and two 2D seismic surveys, thickness and depth maps of prominent stratigraphic units were constructed. These maps provide an overview of key structural elements, the sedimentation and erosion, and give insights into the evolution of the German Central Graben. The base of the Zechstein Group reaches a maximum depth of 7800 m within the German Central Graben. Lateral thickness variations in the Zechstein reflect the extensive mobilisation of Zechstein salt. Complex rift-related structures, with the Central Graben as the main structural element, were found not later than the Early Triassic. Up to 3000-m thick Triassic sediments are preserved in the eastern German Central Graben of which 1800 m consist of Keuper sediments. The Lower Buntsandstein unit shows increasing thicknesses towards the southeastern study area, likely related to distinct lateral subsidence. As a consequence of uplift of the North Sea Dome, Middle Jurassic sediments were eroded in large parts of the northwestern German North Sea and are only preserved in the German Central Graben. The NNW–SSE oriented John Basin is another important structural element, which shows maximum subsidence during the Late Jurassic. In most parts of the study area Lower Cretaceous sediments are absent due to either erosion or non-deposition. Lower Cretaceous deposits are preserved in the Outer Rough Basin in the northwest and within the German Central Graben. Upper Cretaceous sediments are found at depths between 1500 and 3600 m, reaching a maximum thickness of approximately 1600 m on the Schillgrund High. Contraction and inversion of pre-existing Mesozoic faults during the Late Cretaceous is distinct at the Schillgrund Fault, i.e. the eastern border fault of the Central Graben. The Palaeogene is predominantly a period of strong basin subsidence. Within 37 Myrs, up to 1400 m of Palaeogene sediments were deposited in the northwesternmost part of the study area. Detailed mapping of salt structures enables a reconstruction of halokinetic movements over time and a deciphering of the influence of the Zechstein salt on the sedimentary evolution during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. Increasing sediment thicknesses in rim-synclines indicate that most of the salt structures in the German Central Graben had their main growth phase during the Late Jurassic.

scholarly journals The Cavendish Field, Block 43/19, UK North Sea

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Wasielka ◽  
J. G. Gluyas ◽  
H. Breese ◽  
R. Symonds
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Continental Shelf ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Water Depth ◽  
Reservoir Quality ◽  
Low Permeability ◽  
Gas Field ◽  
Upper Carboniferous ◽  
Northern Margin

AbstractThe Cavendish Field is located in UK Continental Shelf Block 43/19a on the northern margin of the Outer Silverpit Basin of the Southern North Sea, 87 miles (140 km) NE of the Lincolnshire coast in a water depth of 62 ft (18.9 m). The Cavendish Field is a gas field in the upper Carboniferous Namurian C (Millstone Grit Formation) and Westphalian A (Caister Coal Formation) strata. It was discovered in 1989 by Britoil-operated well 43/19-1. Production started in 2007 and ceased in 2018. Gas initially in place was 184 bcf and at end of field life 98 bcf had been produced. The field was developed by three wells drilled through the normally unmanned platform into fluvio-deltaic sandstone intervals that had sufficiently good reservoir quality to be effective reservoirs. The majority of the formation within closure comprises mudstones, siltstones and low permeability, non-reservoir-quality feldspathic sandstones. The quality of the reservoir is variable and is controlled by grain size, feldspar content and diagenesis. The field is a structural trap, sealed by a combination of intra-Carboniferous mudstones and a thick sequence of Permian mudstones and evaporites.

Geo(Im)pulse An unexpected fossil crinoid from the ‘Kor en Bot’ trawling trips on the Oosterschelde (Zeeland, the Netherlands)

2010 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.W.M. Jagt ◽  
J.W.F. Reumer
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Specific Identification ◽  
The North ◽  
Good State ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Stem Fragment

AbstractDuring the 2007 ‘Kor en Bot’ collecting trip across the Oosterschelde (province of Zeeland, southwest Netherlands), on board trawler cutter ZZ10, a stem fragment of a fossil isocrinid was recognised amongst the contents of the nets pulled on deck. This specimen is here interpreted to be of Early Jurassic age and assignable to the genus Isocrinus. However, because only internodals are preserved in this pluricolumnal, specific identification cannot be but approximate (Isocrinus (Chladocrinus) cf. tuberculatus). In the absence of any outcrop of Jurassic deposits in Zeeland and adjacent Dutch and Belgian territory, the most likely explanation is that this crinoid represents erratic material transported by precursors of the present-day River Maas (Meuse). Between the Langres Plateau and Sedan (northeast France), this river cuts through several occurrences of Lower Jurassic strata from which the present isocrinid might have originated. A less likely explanation is that it stems from boulders used for coastal reinforcement or from a Roman limestone votive altarpiece put up at the temple complex for the goddess Nehalennia, formerly present at Colijnsplaat, near Domburg (Noord-Beveland, Zeeland). Transportation from either northwest France or the southern or eastern United Kingdom, where there are coastal exposures of Jurassic strata, via the North Sea, is another option which, however, is also considered less feasible in view of the good state of preservation of the crinoid.

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