Oeolournal 1.

1/1977

GEOLOGY AND HYDROCARBON PROVINCES OF THE NORTH SEA

Manuscript received August 1976

P.A.

ZIEGLER, Den Haag *

Summary: The technically recoverable hydrocarbon reserves of the North Sea are currently estimated at 23 x 109 bbls of oil, condensate and NGL and 90 x I012 scf of gas. The North Sea underwent a complex geological evolution. The oil and gas occurrences in the central and northern North Sea are tied to Mesozoic and Tertiary sediments; the gas fields of the southern North Sea are mainly contained in Permian series. The proven hydrocarbon provinces cover at best one third of the total area of the North Sea. It is estimated that in the early 2980% the oil production from the North Sea will meet 22% of the oil demand of Western Europe. Zusammenfassung: Die technisch ausbeutbaren Kohlenwasserstoffreserven der Nordsee werden gegenw~irtig auf 23 x 109 bbls {51, Kondensat und NGL 90 x 1012 scf Gas gesch~tzt. Das Nordseegebiet durchlief eine komplexe geologische Entwicklungsgeschichte. Die ~I- und Gasfelder der zentralen und n6rdlichen Nordsee sind haupts~ichlich an mesozoische und tertDre Sedimente gebunden. Die Gasfelder der siidlichen Nordsee sind haupts~chlich in permischen Serien enthalten. Die nachgewiesenen Kohlenwasserstoffprovinzen bedecken hSchstens ein Drittel der Gesamtoberfl~iche der Nordsee. Es wird angenommen, dag die ~Iproduktion der Nordsee w~ihrend der ersten H~ilfte der 1980er ]ahre 22 % des iglbedarfs yon West-Europa decken wird. R4sum4: Les reserves exploitables de la mer du Nord sont actuellement estim4es 23 x 109 bbl de p4trole, condensat et NGL et 90 x 1012 scf de gaz. L'~volution g~ologique du bassin de lamer du Nord est ires complExe. Les champs de p6trole et de gaz des parties centrales et septentrionales de l a m e r du Nord se trouvent surtout dans des s~ries m6sozoiques et tertiaires, tandis que la majorit~ des champs de gaz des r4gions m~ridionales sont situ4s dans des r4servoirs permiens. Les provinces petrolfi~res connues couvrent moins d'un tiers de la surface totale de lamer du Nord. La production de p4trole de l a m e r du Nord est estim4e correspondre pour les premieres ann4es de 1980 ~ 22 % de la demande en p~trole de l'Europe occidentale.

Abbreviations scf TCF bbls NGL = standard cubic feet (atmospheric conditions at 15 C ) = 1012scf = barrels = Natural Gas Liquids

Introduction T h e N o r t h Sea is the m o s t i m p o r t a n t h y d r o c a r b o n p r o v i n c e o f Western E u r o p e . Present t e c h n i c a l l y recoverable reserves (i.e. p r o v e n and p r o b a b l e reserves) are e s t i m a t e d t o a m o u n t , in established a c c u m u l a t i o n s , t o some 23 x 109 bbls o f oil, c o n d e n s a t e and N G L and a b o u t 9 0 x 1 0 1 2 scf o f gas. a part t h e r e o f m a y u l t i m a t e l y A b o u t o n e t h i r d o f this gas is d i r e c t l y associated w i t h the

Conversion Factors: ] Nm 3 gas (normal cubic meter) = 37.225 scf (atmosphere conditions at 0 C) I m 3oil = 6.28 bbls I ton of 35 API oil = 7.39 bbls 6000scf = I bbls oil assuming calorific value of gas 9.400 kcal/N m 3

oil; f o r

this

reason o n l y

b e c o m e available as sales gas. Expressed in energy equivalents the reserves p r o v e n up in the N o r t h Sea c o r r e s p o n d t o a b o u t 3.2 t i m e s those c o n t a i n e d in the giant S l o c h t e r e n gas field in the N e t h e r l a n d s . R e m a i n i n g oil reserves in o n s h o r e Western E u r o p e a m o u n t t o a b o u t I x 109 bbls w i t h r e m a i n i n g gas reserves i n c l u d i n g the S l o c h t e r e n field being in the o r d e r o f 1 0 0 x 1012 scf, f u r t h e r m o r e these gas

* Dr. P,A.

ZIEGLER, Shell Internationale Petroleum Mij. B.V. Carel van Bylandtlaan 30, Den Haag, Netherlands

Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft. Wiesbaden

GeoJournal 1.1/1977

reserves have to be discounted somewhat for their generally lower calorific value as compared with the North Sea gas. The hydrocarbon reserves of the North Sea are, however, dwarfed by the reserves of the Middle East, which are estimated to be in the order of 340 x 109 bbls of oil and 520 x 1012 scf of gas. The exploration history of the North Sea spans about 15 years. After the discovery of the giant Dutch onshore gasfield Slochteren in 1959 the interest of the industry began to focus on the North Sea. First concessions were allocated in 1963 by Denmark and in 1964 by Germany and the U.K., by which time exploration started in earnest. Initially, exploration efforts were mainly concentrated on the gas prospects of the southern North Sea, for which the spectacular Slochteren field stood as a model. However, with the gradual recognition of the oil potential of the central North Sea the exploration emphasis began to shift northward. Whereas gas exploration in the southern North Sea was rewarded with success shortly after the allocation of the first concessions, exploration for oil in the central and northern North Sea had to labour through a long series of dry holes before the first two giant oil fields were discovered in 1969 and 1970, Ekofisk in Norwegian and Forties in British waters. By now the industry has drilled over 800 exploration and appraisal wells in the North Sea. These have resulted in the discovery of some 90 oil and/or gas accumulations; however, not all of these discoveries are backed up by sufficient reserves to support development. Currently some 30 mobile drilling units are engaged in exploration drilling and in the evaluation of new discoveries. Whereas development of the gas fields in the southern North Sea is well advanced, only seven of the oil fields of the central North Sea are currently on stream. An additional four are anticipated to be on stream by late 1976. A major network of oil and gas pipelines linking the producing offshore areas with the onshore is currently under construction. The present offshore operations in the North Sea are certainly the largest of their kind. They take place in a climatic environment that is decidedly harsh. Development of the newly discovered oil fields in these northern waters with depths between 100 and 200 metres requires new technologies. Correspondingly, cash demands are very large. Although these newly discovered North Sea energy sources are of the greatest importance for the economy of Europe, it should be realised that only large - by onshore standards very large - fields can be economically developed. Whether smaller fields can be economically produced, depends not only on the size of the reserves but also on the development

costs, which increase rapidly with increasing water depth, on the distance from shore and nearby outlet facilities, on the crude realisation price, on the concession conditions and last but not least on the type and degree of government take, such as royalties and taxation. In the North Sea the industry has not only to cope with huge technological, financial and concessionary problems but has also to absorb the risk of an expensive exploration venture in a geologically complex basin. Industry-wide exploration expenditures are estimated to have passed by late 1975 the US ~ 2 x 109 mark. Capital investment for offshore field development is currently running at a level of some US $ 4 to 5 x 109 per year. Although the spectacular string of discoveries scored by the industry during the last years in the North Sea appears to continue, a creaming-off effect will sooner or later result in a gradual dropping off of the rate at which new reservesare added to those already established. The prospectivity of the North Sea is by no means uniform. Even a quick glance at the distribution pattern of the currently known oil and gas fields reveals that these are concentrated along the north-south axis of the central and northern North Sea (Fig 1). An exception are the gas fields of the southern North Sea that form part of a broad belt, stretching east-west from Germany to southern England. A summary of the geological evolution of the North Sea and its bearings on the distribution of these hydrocarbon accumulations is presented in the next chapter, which is followed by a discussion of the stratigraphic and structural characteristics of the individual oil and gas provinces of the North Sea.

North Sea Basin History

The North Sea occupies large parts of the North West European intracratonic sedimentary basin which extends from Poland through Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands to eastern England and through the North Sea to the Atlantic Shelf (Fig 2). This large basin is flanked to the north east by the Fennoscandian Precambrian shield, to the east by the stable Russian platform, to the south by the late Paleozoic Variscan massifs and to the west by the Caledonides of Scotland. The North West European basin is open to the north, where it grades into the Atlantic Shelf basins of western Norway and the Shetland Islands. The North Sea as such came into existence during the Tertiary Age. The sedimentary sequence underlaying the North Sea reaches maximum thickness in excess of 9 kiloFig 1 Oil & Gas Fields North Sea

GeoJournal 1.1/1977

NORTH SEA OIL and GAS FIELDS

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10

GeoJournal 1.1/1977

Fig 2

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Fig 3 MEGATECTONIC FRAME OF NW-EUROPEAN BASIN

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Paleographic maps (Basement provinces,Devonian Upper Carboniferous, Rotliegend Zechstein, Triassic) (for legend see p. 13)

metres with sediments ranging in age from lower Paleozoic to Quaternary. The North Sea area underwent a long and complex evolution (Kent 1975, Walmsley 1975, P.A. Ziegler 1975, W.H. Ziegler 1975) during which it was occupied by a number of genetically different sedimentary basins. The superposition of these basins in various combinations in different parts of the North Sea controls the hydrocarbon potential of the respective provinces. 1. The Basin Floor The metamorphic and igneous rocks which form the floor or basement of the North Sea basin have been reached only by a small number of wells. In much of the North Sea the top of the basement is located beyond conventional drilling depths. In the deeper parts of the North Sea basin the basement cannot even be mapped by reflection seismic. Insufficient refraction data are available to construct a basinwide top basement structure map. Based on projections from onshore areas and on radiometric age determination of a few of the critical offshore basement samples a reconstruction of the major age provinces of the basement in the general North Sea area (Fig 3a) can be drawn up. Offshore data confirm the longstanding hypothesis of a

link between the Caledonides (400 million years and older) of Scotland and those of Norway across the northern North Sea. More novel, however, are the findings of Caledonian basement rocks in the central North Sea. These give evidence for the existence of a late Caledonian fold belt extending from Norway southward into the northern parts of the Dutch and German offshore. It can only be speculated that this branch of the Caledonides may have extended through northern Germany to northern Poland where subsurface data again give evidence for Caledonian folding. Furthermore it cannot be ruled out that the Caledonides of the Ardennes and those of the central North Sea link up through the southern North Sea, in which case the London-Brabant massif with its Precambrian basement (700 million years plus) and lower Paleozoic undeformed sedimentary cover may represent an intramontane stable platform. The boundary between the central North Sea Caledonides and their north eastern undeformed foreland is, however, still ill-defined. Precambrian basement rocks (age 690 to 870 million years) form the Ringkobing-Fyn high (Larsen 1971); seismic and limited drilling data indicate that unmetamorphosed lower Paleozoic series overlay a Precambrian basement in the Skagerrak, in the Kattegat and in Jutland.

GeoJournal

1.1/1977

11

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12

GeoJournal I .I/I 977

The Tornquist line, also referred to as the Fennoscandian border zone, is thought to mark the boundary between the generally older Precambrian basement rocks of both the Fennoscandian shield and the Russian platform (900 to 3000 million years) and the younger Precambrian basement provinces of central and western Europe. In the Hebrides and in the Scottish Northern Highlands Precambrian basement rocks (Laxfordian 1600-I 400 m.y.) are overlain by unmetamorphosed late Precambrian and lower Paleozoic sediments. This remnant of the western foreland of the Scottish-Norwegian Caledonides extends, based on well data, north westward under the West Shetland shelf. Thus recent drilling has yielded important new information on an as yet ill defined but complex puzzle of the various basement provinces making up the basin floor of the greater North Sea area. The subsequent development of the North Sea basin was at least in part influenced by the differential behaviour of the various basement blocks and their internal structural grain.
2. The Basin Fill

became accentuated. The southern North Sea area formed during the Devonian and Carboniferous part of the Variscan foredeep in which a thick essentially clastic wedge was deposited on the deeply eroded Caledonides. Deposition started in the Devonian with the continental Old Red sandstones. During the Middle Devonian (Fig 3b) marine incursions originating from the Variscan geosyncline reached northwards into the central North Sea where locally carbonates were deposited. The postorogenic collapse of the North Atlantic Caledonian foldbelt led during the Devonian to the development of large intermontane basins such as the Orcadian Old Red basin of Scotland. In these basins great thicknesses of continental clastics were accumulated. Well data point towards a possible link-up between the Orcadian Basin and the scattered Old Red outcrops on the Norwegian coast. Furthermore a link may have been established between the Old Red basin of the southern and central North Sea and the Orcadian Basin. During the Carboniferous (Fig3c) occasional marine ingressions pushed again northward from the Variscan geosyncline into the central North Sea. Paralic conditions prevailed during the late stages of the Variscan cycle leading to the deposition of thick upper Carboniferous coalmeasures mainly in the southern and in part also in the west-central North Sea. These coals are of particular interest since they form the source rock for the gas occurrences in the southern North Sea. Coal measures are apparently missing in the northern North Sea, in the Norwegian and in much of the Danish offshore. The late Carboniferous terminal phase of the Variscan orogeny led to a consolidation of the Variscan fold belt with the Craton of north western Europe. Postorogenic uplifting and erosion affected not only the Variscan foldbelt but also its foreland and gave rise to the regional prePermian "Saalian" unconformity. c) The Pre-Permian Surface The Pre-Permian sediments of onshore north western Europe contain by North Sea standards only minor hydrocarbon occurrences. Lower Paleozoic oil accumulations in the Baltic area are tied to Cambrian and Silurian oil source rocks. Carboniferous series contain a number of small oil fields in Lincolnshire in eastern England and in the Midland Valley of Scotland. In Germany and in the Netherlands minor gas accumulations have been proven up in Upper Carboniferous sands. Only a small fraction of the total North Sea hydrocarbon reserves are contained in pre-Permian reservoirs. As already indicated above the Westphalian coal-measures of the southern North Sea represent an outstanding gas

The sediments overlaying the crystalline basement of the North Sea were deposited through time in different types of sedimentary basins. Each of these basins developed in response to a different tectonic setting. Thus the development history of the North Sea area can be subdivided into a number of more or less distinct tectonic as well as depositional cycles. a) Caledonian Cycle This cycle spanned the Cambrian to Silurian times and closes with the Caledonian orogeny which, as seen above, has affected much of the North Sea area. Essentially undeformed Lower Paleozoic sediments containing hydrocarbon source rocks occur in the Baltic where they were deposited under platform conditions in the Caledonian miogeosyncline. Remnants of similar sediments are present in the Danish onshore, in the Kattegat, in Scania and possibly in the Skagerrak. Although productive in the Baltic, the hydrocarbon potential of the Lower Paleozoic series in the North Sea is highly speculative in view of their generally high degree of organic metamorphism. b) VariscanCycle The Variscan tectonic cycle spans the Devonian and Carboniferous periods and terminates with the final phases of the Variscan orogeny during the late Carboniferous. During the Caledonian diastrophism the Variscan geosyncline which extended from Ireland to Eastern Europe

GeoJournal 1.1/1977

13

LEGEND TO PALEOGEOGRAPHIC MAPS FIG. :Send 5

FIG. 3a ONLY Pre-Cembrian basement Caledon/an basement Sandstone and Conglomerate S~ndstone Deeper marine sandstone,Flysch Shale [ ~ Organic shale Deeper marine sha[e FIG. 3b to 4f Carbonate Positive Areas

FIG. 3f ONLY Maximum distribution of Triassic Distribution solid Musehelkolk carbonates ===~=== Northern edge Muschelkalk carbonates r-r--r-r->~ Edge Rdtsait Areas with Keuper salt

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ABREVIATIONS: Mecklenburg-Brandenburg Ringk~bing Fyn High Rhenish Massif Subhercynian Basin Tornquist Line Basin

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source rock. As such they have heavily contributed to the hydrocarbon reserves of the southern North Sea. Although pre-Westphalian coal measures occur locally in the central North Sea and Devonian oil source rocks have been reported from the onshore parts of the arcadian Basin these have contributed little if any to the hydrocarbon reserves of the North Sea. The present-day distribution of the pre-Permian series in the North Sea is summarised in Fig 4. Although locally modified by subsequent tectonism and Mesozoic erosional phases this map represents essentially the subcrop below the "Saalian" unconformity and depicts as such the main pre-Permian tectonic elements of the North Sea area. In early Permian times the southern margin of the presentday North Sea was formed by the highlands of the Variscan foldbelt stretching from Ireland to Poland. Much of the North Sea area was occupied by deeply eroded highs exposing Precambrian and Caledonian basement rocks and intervening depressions underlain by Devonian and Carboniferous basins. The Lower Paleozoic Danish trough formed part of a large low-relief high which occupied the eastern North Sea. Fault trends active during pre-Permian times are the Great Glen fault, the faults bounding the Midland Valley, as well as the Tornquist line. These faults were repeatedly reactivated during the Permian and Mesozoic. Purely Permian and younger features shown in Fig 4 are

the asia Graben, the Bamble Trough, the Horn and the Central Graben. d) Permo-Triassic Variscan Foreland Collapse

In contrast to the compressive setting of much of the North Sea during the Variscan cycle its Permo-Triassic development was dominated by extensional stresses. These resulted initially from post-orogenic uplifting and collapse of the Variscan foldbelt and its foreland. However, during the course of the Triassic stresses related to early rifting movements in the northern North Atlantic began to dominate the North Sea area. Differential subsidence of two essentially "east west orientated intracratonic basins started mainly during the Lower Permian Age in the Variscan foreland (Fig 3d). Simultaneously a northwest southeast orientated fault system came into evidence. Effusion of widespread volcanics, mainly along the margins of major stable blocks, preceded the subsidence of the basinal areas. The mid North Sea Ringk~bing-Fyn High came into evidence as a continuous barrier separating a northern basin extending from Scotland to Denmark from a southern one which reached from eastern England to Poland. Deposition started in both basins under desert conditions with the middle Permian Rotliegend elastics. Supplied by a system of intermittent streams originating in the rapidly degraded Variscan mountains a thick belt of wadi deposits and dune sands was accumulated along the

14

GeoJournal 1.1/1977

southern margins of the southern Permian basin. These sands grade northwards into up to 1000 metres thick sabkah shales and salts (kutz et al 1975, Thomas 1975). The Rotliegend sands are the main gas reservoir in the southern North Sea and the adjacent onshore areas. In the northern Permian basin facies patterns are as yet ill-defined. However, being fringed by lower relief highs this basin received apparently less coarse material. An outstanding feature of the northern Permian basin is the volcanic Oslo Graben. Continued subsidence of both northern Permian basins, possibly about in the upper Permian the transgression of the Zechstein seas the southern and the below sea level, brought apparently catastrophic (Fig 3e).

subsidence of a major rift system in the northern North Sea, the Viking Oraben. Further south the North Sea - Ringkcbing-Fyn High, was breached during the Triassic by the Central Graben and the Horn Graben. Similar grabens along the Atlantic seaboard are the West Shetland Minch basin, the Cardigan Bay, Celtic Sea and the Western Approaches basins. Major subsidence areas in the Dutch and German onshore areas are the Emsland Graben, the Gliickstadt trough and the Hessian depression. Rapid subsidence during the Triassic marked also the Danish Embayment, the Bamble trough and the Egersund basin where up to 3000 metres of Triassic red beds were deposited (Fig 8). Emplacement o f these new Triassic tectonic elements as well as continued subsidence of the older Permian basins heralded the Jurassic-Cretaceous tectonic regime of the North Sea. The great thickness of the Triassic sediments triggered in the Permian basins the diapirism of the Zechstein salts which continued through much of the Mesozoic and Tertiary Ages. Although Triassic series make up a major part of the North Sea basin fill, they only play a very minor role in the North Sea hydrocarbon potential. Significantly Triassic sediments are devoid of oil and gas source rocks and offer only a limited reservoir potential. e) Jurassic Lower Cretaceous Taphrogenic Stage

Faunal evidence indicates that this transgression originated from the marine Arctic Permian basins of Spitzbergen and Greenland, thus giving evidence for an early seaway through the northern North Atlantic and the Viking Graben in the northern North Sea. In both the southern and the northern Permian basins up to 1000 metre thick Zechstein halites were deposited; these are offset along the basin margins and on local highs by carbonate and sulphate banks. Zechstein carbonates contain significant gas reserves in the German and Netherlands onshore areas but play only a subordinate role as oil and gas reservoirs in the North Sea. At the end of the Permian renewed rifting movements may have again closed off the early northern North Atlantic seaway. Thus the onset of the Triassic is marked in the North Sea by a regional regression and a return to a continental depositional regime. The Permian basin edges were gradually overstepped during the Triassic. With the progressive wearing down of the fringing highlands the supply of coarse clastics to the northern and southern North Sea basins gradually diminished. Marine incursions during the Middle Triassic Muschelkalk originated from the Alpine Geosyncline but did not reach further north than the southern North Sea basin. During the Upper Triassic the Muschelkalk sea retreated again and much of North West Europe was covered by a wide lagoonal plain with local evaporite and salt pans receiving only a limited amount of sands. During the Triassic the Permian tectonic framework of the North Sea was modified by the emplacement of an essentially north south trending Graben system. Earliest indications of rifting movements coupled with uplifting of intervening highs occurred during the Bunter, giving rise to the regional Hardegsen unconformity W.H. Ziegler, 1975). Seismic and drilling data give clear evidence for the rapid

The over 1000 kilometres long rift system of the Viking and Central Graben which was in essence emplaced during the Triassic developed during the Jurassic into the dominant structural element of the North Sea. Subsidence of this graben system continued in several basinwide distinct phases that are correlating with similar rifting phases in the northern North Atlantic (P.A. Ziegler, 1975). The major oil provinces of the North Sea are tightly linked to the Viking and Central Graben. Sediments deposited during the Jurassic-Cretaceous taphrogenic stage of this rift system contain oil and gas source rocks as well as excellentreservoir horizons. The majority of the "oil reserves of the central and northern North Sea are contained in Jurassic sediments. At l~he Keuper Rhaetic boundrary the basinwide "early Kimmerian" tectonic pulse resulted in a mild accentuation of the main structural elements of the North Sea area. This phase was followed by the regional Rhaetic-Hettangian transgression during which sands were deposited along the margins of the main positive elements. In this context the Staffjord sands of the Viking Graben deserve particular mention as a reservoir horizon. During the Pliensbachian fully marine conditions were established throughout most
Fig 4

PermianSubcrop Map

GeoJournal 1.1/1977

15

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NORTH SEA,PRE-PERMIAN
PE - Basement Undeformed Caledonid E-Sil. on PE - Basement folded -Sil. on P E - B a s e m e n t

TECTONIC

UNITS

Caledonian Metamorphics and Intrusives Devonian mainly Old Red Carboniferous Dinantian and Namurian Caledonian Deformation Front . Variscan Deformation Front Major Faults (in part Mesozoic)

Carboniferous Carboniferous Variscan

Westpholion Stephanian

Foldbelt

16

Geolournal 1.1/1977

of the North Sea with transgressions originating both from the Tethis as well as from the by now firmly established northern North Atlantic seaway. The Liassic deposits of the North Sea generally are characterised by open-marine relatively shallow-water shales (Fig 5a). Minor amounts of sands were derived from sources in Poland and East Germany but never reached the actual area of the North Sea. During the late Liassic the Toarcian organic Posidonomyashales were deposited in the southern North Sea and in the adjacent Dutch and German onshore. They form the main oil source rock in the Lower Saxony and West Netherlands basins. However, their equivalents in the northern North Sea and in the Danish Embayment are developed in a non-source rock facies. During the early Dogger a major tectonic pulse, colloquially referred to as the "Mid Kimmerian" phase, affected much of the North Sea area and resulted in major paleogeographic changes (Fig 5b). Differential subsidence of the Viking Graben continued with the deposition of the regressive-transgressive up to 300 metres thick Brent Sands (Bajocian-Bathonian), which form an outstanding hydrocarbon reservoir. In contrast to this much of the central North Sea was uplifted initially and subjected to erosion before deposition resumed in the Central Graben and in the Egersund-Danish Embayment. This uplift was parallelled by a distinct rift volcanism with a main effusion centre located in the area of the Moray Firth Basin, Central Graben and Viking Graben triple junction; subsidiary volcanic centres are recognised in the Egersund basin, the Viking Graben and on the Norwegian coast (AI-Kassim 1975). Uplifting of the Mid North Sea Ringkobing-Fyn High during the Mid-Kimmerian phase resulted in a renewed separation of the northern North Sea basin from the southern one. Clastics derived from this trend of highs were deposited under paralic conditions in the Egersund-Danish Embayment but were also shed southwards into the more marine Lower Saxony, West Netherlands and Solepit basins.
-

source rocks grade laterally in the northern Netherlands offshore into sandy, paralic series. Sedimentation during the Upper Jurassic gradually overstepped the edges of the Middle Jurassic basins. During this transgression upper Jurassic shallow-water sands were locally deposited on shelf areas flanking the North Sea graben system. Darived from these shallow-water sand accumulations and transported by density currents, the grabens received locally deep-water sands. Both shallow water and deeper water Upper Jurassic sands contain major oil accumulations in the central and northern North Sea. Subsidence of the mid North Sea High during the upper Jurassic led to a renewed marine connection between the northern and the southern North Sea basins. In the latter upper Jurassic series display a wide variety of facies types, ranging from carbonates and evaporites in the Lower Saxony basin to paralic sand series in the West Netherlands basin and ultimately to shales containing only minor carbonates and clastics in the Sole Pit basin. These three basins offset the London-Brabant and Rhenish Massif and are referred to as "Marginal Troughs" (Voight 1962). They were accentuated during the middle and upper Jurassic whereby local warping during the Dogger and early upper Jurassic is thought to be related to minor transcurrent movements. The rift volcanism of the central North Sea ceased with the subsidence of the Central Graben during the Upper Jurassic; however, in the Dutch Wadden Sea, a new, this time upper Jurassic volcanic centre developed. Upper Jurassic dates have also been obtained from dykes in the northernmost North Sea and on the West Norwegian coast. At ethe Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary a further major rifling phase, the "Late Kimmerian Phase", affected the entire North Sea Graben system. In the Viking Graben this phase accentuated the already existing sea floor topography and gave rise to a strong, blockfaulted submarine relief of some 2000 to 3000 metres. In the Central Graben rift tectonics were less obvious since they were in part obscured by the intense diapirism of the Zechstein salts. Simultaneously the Mid North Sea - Ringk~bing-Fyn High and the LondonBrabant High - as well as the Rhenish-Bohemian Massif were uplifted; this went parallel with a sharp accentuation of the Marginal Troughs. The base of the Cretaceous is marked throughout the entire North Sea by a regional unconformity which is referred to as the "late Kimmerian unconformity". This break in sedimentation was followed by a major transgression that inundated during the Lower Cretaceous most of the Jurassic highs, thus shutting off the supply of clastics from these highs to the Central and Fig 5 PaleographicM@ps (Liassic, Dogger, Malrn, Lower and Upper Cretaceous,I~ Tertiary) (for legend see p. 13)1V

Minor rifting pulses preceded a regional transgression during the Callovian and Oxfordian which led ultimately, during the Kimmeridgian, to the development of deep water troughs in the Viking and Central Graben. Whereas the Moray Firth and the Egersund Basin as well as the Danish Embayment continued to subside during the Upper Jurassic, the essentially Triassic Horngraben became inactive. Throughout the northern as well as parts of the central North Sea the Kimmeridgian (Fig 5c) is represented by organic rich shales that constitute the main oil source rock in these areas. However, Kimmeridgian shales lose their source rock potential southward from the Egersund basin into the Danish Embayment. Furthermore, Kimmeridgian

GeoJournal 1.1/1977

17

18

GeoJournal 1.1/1977

Viking Graben (Fig 5d). The occurrence of Lower Cretaceous sands is essentially restricted to the Moray Firth Basin, the Dutch parts of the Central Graben and the Marginal Troughs. During the Lower Cretaceous the topography of the North Sea rift became gradually buried in a thick shale sequence. This process was interrupted during the early Albian by a minor rifting phase (Austrian phase) which in turn was followed by the basinwide transgression of the Albian and Aptian shales. f) Late and Post-Taphrogenic Stage Rifting movement in the North Sea petered out gradually during the Upper Cretaceous and ceased entirely after the early Tertiary Laramide phase. This last rifting phase coincides roughly with the onset of ocean floor spreading in the northern North Atlantic. With this the active extensional forces that dominated the Mesozoic setting of the North Sea apparently ceased to influence the area. A regime of regional subsidence that appears to continue to the present day characterised the Tertiary evolution of the North Sea basin. Following the Albian-Aptian, transgression sedimentation in the North Sea changes over from mainly shales to carbonates. The purity of the Upper Cretaceous chalk series in the North Sea is an indication to what extent the surrounding highlands were inundated by the Cretaceous seas which reached their maximum extent during the Senonian (Fig 5e). In the central and northern North Sea Upper Cretaceous times corresponded to a period of general quiescence that was only interrupted by the mid-Senonian, Subhercynian phase which gave rise to a subregional disconformity. Both the Viking and the Central Graben continued to subside rapidly during the Upper Cretaceous. Up to 1200 metres thick chalk series, consisting mainly of coccolith fragments accumulated in the Central Graben and in the southern Viking Graben. Northwards these carbonates grade into an equally thick sequence of marls and calcareous shales. On the highs flanking the central rift system the chalk reaches thicknesses of only 200 to 300 metres. By the close of the Cretaceous most of the rift topography was apparently completely filled in. During the early Paleocene a last distinct rifting phase, the Laramide Phase, resulted once more in a rapid subsidence of the graben system. This was parallelled by uplifting and erosion of the rift flanks. At the same time regional paleogeographic changes resulted in a return to a elastic depositional regime. Flanking the North Atlantic rift zone the Scottish Highlands and the western Shetland Platform were apparently uplifted. This gave rise to an eastward directed drainage system which deposited, during the Paleocene and Eocene, a thick deltaic and barrier bar sandsequence on the eastern Shetland Shelf and in the area of

the outer Moray Firth basin. Slope failure of this foreset sequence triggered density currents which transported sands into the Central and Viking Graben where they now constitute major hydrocarbon reservoirs. In the southern North Sea both the Subhercynian and the Laramide phases resulted in an inversion of the Marginal Troughs, as well as of the southern parts of the Central Graben. Similar inversion movements occurred along the Fennoscandian border zone in the Kattegat, in southern Sweden and in Poland (Fig 5e). Inversion of these basins resulted in uplifting of their axial parts in response to compressive and/or transcurrent movements. These deformations are thought to be caused by compressive stresses which were exerted by the Alpine Orogene on its fragmented foreland in which the above Mesozoic troughs acted like shear pins in an otherwise rigid platform. Once inverted, these basins bacame largely inactive (P. A. Ziegler 1975). From the Eocene till the present day the North Sea area has been subjected to regional subsidence. During this time span a large symmetrical saucer shaped basin developed in which Tertiary series reach a maximum thickness of some 3500 metres in the central North Sea (Fig 5f and 6), The axis of this basin corresponds closely to the axis of the Mesozoic North Sea rift system. Towards the south where the Central Graben loses its identity this basin shallows out. Tertiary sediments consist mainly of clays and minor sands. In an attempt to explain the geometry of the Tertiary North Sea basin P. A. Ziegler (1975) postulated that a low-density, low-velocity rift pillow (lilies, 1970) underlayed the Viking Central Graben during its JurassicCretaceous taphrogenic stage and that this pillow was gradually resorbed by the mantle during the upper Cretaceous and Tertiary Ages. Recent refraction data from the northern North Sea tend to support this hypothesis (Fig 7) by indicating in the area of the Viking Graben a drastic thinning of crust and the absence of a low-velocity, low-density rift pillow (Solli 1976). Major reservoir rocks deposited during the late taphrogenic stage of the North Sea are the Maastrichtian and Danian chalks as well as the Paleocene and Eocene turbidite sands. Paleocene series contain furthermore oil source rocks in the central Graben area. The younger Tertiary series, which were deposited during the post-taphrogenic stage of the North Sea, contain little economic reservoirs but play the role of thick impervious cap rocks. The overall thickness of the Tertiary sediments is significant for the hydro=arbon potential of the North Sea, insofar as

G e o l o u r n a l ] .1/1977

]9

CENTRAL GRABEN
o
+ , 1 , ' " +,1,4. + 4 - + ,1,4.,1,+ + ' 4 " + 4 " 4 " + 4 . , 1 , + 4 . 4 . 4 " 4 " + 4 " 4 " . 1 . + + 4 . 4 . 4 . +

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O
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=========== + + + ========== ii,i:i:i:i:i:i:?i:i + + + +

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Gill ~ ~ 1 , 1 , 4.RINGKOBING+-4FYN+ + + HIGH+ + .1. + +q+l ~ 4- .1. 44,1, + + ,1,

+ 44+ + "1" "1" + + + + 4 " + + + ' 1 " + ' 1 " + , 1 , . 1 . + + , 1 , + + f + + + + 4.1 + + "1" + + TE+ +

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100

200

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Jurassic Triassic ~ ] Zechstein Salt

400

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8 600 KM

I Tertiary Up. C r e t a c e o u s Low. C r e t a c e o u s

Paleozoic and Basement

25 VERTICAL E X A G G E R A T I O N

Fig 6

Cross-section Denmark

it largely depends on the Tertiary overburden whether or not the Kimmeridgian oil source rocks and those of the Paleocene have reached the necessary degree of organic metamorphism that is a precondition for the generation of significant quantities of oil and gas.

Oil and Gas Provinces

Although the Tertiary tectonic framework of the North Sea is relatively simple and is essentially dominated by one large, symmetrical sedimentary basin (Fig 5f), its preTertiary configuration is considerably more complex. Fig8 presents the main Mesozoic and Permian tectonic units of the North Sea area showing major highs and intervening sedimentary basins. These basins differ not only in their overall sedimentary thickness, the age and lithologic composition of their sedimentary fill and its deformation style, but also in their hydrocarbon potential. This is caused by regional differences in the superposition of the various sedimentary basins that have taken part in the evolution of the North Sea. The main hydrocarbon occurrences of the North Sea are apparently tied to distinct tectonic units. The hydrocarbon potential of the North Sea is by no means uniform. As a measure of the exploration density in - and as such of the geological knowledge available on - the various parts of the North Sea, a drilling density map is presented in Fig 9.

The drilling density of a given area depends not only on its prospectivity but also on the concession policy of the respective government. Thus Fig 9 shows also the outline of all the areas that have stood, at one time or another during the last 13 years, under exploration licences. Fig 9 gives no indications about the density of the seismic coverage recorded by the industry since the beginning of exploration work in the North Sea. This network covers, be it with varying density, all parts of the North Sea. Most of the presently known oil occurrences in the North Sea are located in the Viking and Central Graben. Over one third of the total gas reserves are contained in the gas fields of the southern North Sea, these are arranged along the southern margin of the southern Permian basin. The remaining gas reserves are contained in the Viking and the Central Graben. Correspondingly, these areas show the highest drilling densities. Areas with little or no drilling as well as areas that were never covered by concessions or where concessions have already been largely surrendered can generally be considered as low-prospective or at best as being of speculative prospectivity only. This applies, however, not fully to Norway, which as the only North Sea state - pursues a restrictive licensing policy. The present concession pattern as well as the drilling density reflect, however, only very roughly the industry's

20

OeoJournal 1.1/197-/

SHETLAND ISL.

VIKING

GRABEN

NORWAY

10 15 20 25 30 35 SW Devonian, Old Red 100 ~ 200 Jurassic,Triassic,Permian Cretaceous 300

10 15 20 25 30 35 Km.

NE Tertiary

REFRACTION Fig 7

AND REFLECTION PROFILE ACROSS VIKING GRABEN MODIFIED AFTER SOLLI 1976

Refraction-Reflection section northern North Sea a) Reservoirs and source rocks

evaluation of the prospectivity of the various geologic provinces of the North Sea. Exploration is in many areas still in full swing. Three major hydrocarbon provinces are recognised in the North Sea: 1. The Permian gas province of the southern North Sea; 2. the Mesozoic and Tertiary oil and gas province of the Central Graben; 3. the Mesozoic and Tertiary oil and gas province of the Viking Oraben. These hydrocarbon provinces differ essentially in the age of their principal reservoirs, the structural style of the traps containing the major accumulations as well as in their hydrocarbon potential. 1. The Southern North Sea Gas Province

Figure 10 summarises the stratigraphy of the southern North Sea and highlights the major gas reservoirs. More than 95 % of all the gas reserves are contained in Rotliegend sands. Reserves in the Bunter sands play a subordinate role only. By offshore standards, gas accumulations in Zechstein carbonates and Carboniferous sandstones yield only marginal to uncommercial flow rates as a rule.

The southern North Sea and its eastward adjacent onshore areas contain the most prolific gas province of Western Europe. Recoverable reserves are in the order of 95 TCF; of these some 35 TCF are contained in the North Sea. The potential of this province for hydrocarbon liquids is negligible.

Large parts of the southern North Sea are underlain by the Southern Permo-Triassic basin (Fig 3 and 8). The Rotliegend reservoir sands were deposited in a broad belt along the southern margin of this basin. Their position within the stratigraphic sequence of the southern North Sea is ideal for a hydrocarbon reservoir. The up to 300 metres thick, porous and massive Rotliegend sands are directly overlain by often very thick Zechstein salts that form a first rate seal. At the same time the Rotliegend sands overlie, in part directly, the Westphalian coal measures, that are up to 3200 metres thick and represent a first rate gas source rock. The

Fig 8

Mesozoictectonic units North Sea

G e o J o u r n a l 1.1/1977

21

F R E~ PLATE/ A OS
c, ~" / ~

ES AT S EL N H TA D PA F R L TO M

P~NNo 8,04

/014N

C
"'~

MID NORTH SEA HIGH

~NGK~BING

0 I

100 I

2:00 K M -4

NORTH SEA, PERMIAN AND MESOZOIC TECTONIC UNITS

I Highs Sedimentary Basins without Zechstein Salt Sedimentary Basins with Zechstein Salt Thick Jurassic Series
, , .........

Inversion Basins Northern Limit Rotliegend Send

Limit Zechstein Salt Faults

22

GeoJournal 1.I/1977

intimate relationship between these source rocks and the blanket type, massive Rotliegend reservoir sands favours gas migration. In the area of the southern North Sea gas fields, the top Rotliegend occurs at depths of between 2000 and 4000 metres. (;as generation by geothermal metamorphosis of the coal measures began during the Mesozoic, and was generally interrupted during the Upper Cretaceous but started again in some areas during the Tertiary (Lutz et al. 1975).

cial. Not until the industry had drilled some 75 dry holes in the central North Sea, did the Phillips group in Norway score the first real success with their discovery of the giant Ekofisk field in late 1969. In the autumn of 1970 BP announced the discovery of their giant Forties oil field. Technically recoverable reserves in the central North Sea are currently estimated to amount to some 7 x 109 bbls condensate and NGL plus some 15 TCF gas. In the central North Sea the distribution of the known oil and gas fields coincides closely with the Mesozoic Central Graben. This graben displays a NNW-SSE strike and runs at a sharp angle to the British-Norwegian border. In the Danish offshore the Central Graben assumes a north-south trend and loses its identity further south in the Netherlands offshore. The Central Graben shallows out at its northern end and interferes with the essentially east-west trending fault system of the Moray Firth basin.

b)

Structural style of traps

Most of the Rotliegend gas accumulations are contained in complex block-faulted structures, which are often filled to spill-point (Fig I1). These structures resulted from a complex multi-phase deformation process, which is typical not only for large parts of the southern North Sea but also for the onshore Marginal Troughs. The late Hercynian and Laramide inversion movements, which affected the Sole Pit and the West Netherlands basin as well as the southernmost parts of the Central Graben resulted in an uplifting of the formerly deeply buried Paleozoic floor of these Mesozoic basins. During these inversion movements displacement along earlier emplaced normal faults was in part reversed by compressive and transcurrent movements (Blair 1975 (4)) as illustrated by Fig 11. Deterioration of the Rotliegend reservoir characteristics towards the centre of these inversion basins is related to secondary diagenetic processes during the maximum burial of these series prior to the basin inversion (Stalder, 1973, Marie, 1975, Lutz et al., 1975). The structural relief of the top Rotliegend is in many parts of the southern North Sea in the order of 200 metres. The seismic mapping of fields and undrilled prospects is often hampered by rapid lateral overburden velocity changes, which are due to halokinetic movements of the Zechstein salts (see also Hornabrook, 1975).
The southern North Sea gas province is limited to the north by the shale-out of the Rotliegend sands (Fig 4). Gas accumulations in the Bunter sands are generally contained in Zechstein salt pillow structures. Migration of the coal gases into these structures took place through areas of total Zechstein salt withdrawal or across major faults, offsetting Rotliegend sands against the Bunter series (Fig 7). Bunter gas accumulations are mainly sealed off by R6t salts.

a)

Reservoirs and source rocks

The stratigraphic sequence of the Central Graben and its major hydrocarbon occurrences are summarised in Fig 12. The Danian and Maastrichtian chalks are the main reservoirs in the Norwegian and Danish offshores. They contain the spectacular cluster of fields in the Ekofisk area as well as the Dan field and a number of smaller accumulations in the Danish offshore. The chalk reservoirs, which to a large degree consist of coccospheres and their fragments, are characterised by high porosities and low permeabilities (Byrd 1975, Harper and Shaw, 1974). Depending on its lithologic characteristics the chalk can act as a reservoir as well as a seal. The Danian and Maastrichtian chalks of the UK portion of the central North Sea have remained so far largely unproductive. This may, at least in part, be due to differences in the primary chalk facies as well as to diag_enetic processes. Furthermore, it is interesting to observe that the chalk is generally unproductive where it is overlain by the Paleocene deep-water sands. The latter contain the major oil reserves in the UK sector of the central North Sea. The Paleocene deep-water sands have their largest distribution in the UK part of the central North Sea, reach barely the Norwegian offshore and are entirely absent in Denmark (Parker, 1975). Major Paleocene sand oil accumulations are the Forties, Montrose, Maureen and Andrew fields, all located in UK waters. To these should be added the Lomond gas condensate field and as the only Norwegian Paleocene field the Cod gas condensate accumulation.

2.

Central Graben Oil and Gas Province

The first oil and gas accumulation in the Central Graben was found by the Danish Underground Consortium in 1967 in their well A-2x. This find remained, however, uncommer-

Upper Jurassic, shallow-water sands are productive in the Piper and Claymore fields as well as in a number of satellite

GeoJournal 1,1/1977

23

NORTH SEA: DRILLING DENSITY AS OF tsf. JUNE1976

Maximum concession outline os from t976 Q /~ ~/~ Q One well per unit area Two or more wells per unit area Four or more wells Major Oil Fields Major Gas Fields j ~

"~

~ ~

~
LONDON

AMSTERDAM

~,,t~t

UNIT A R E A : Circle with 2 0 km diameter

tO0

200

KM

Fig 9

Drilling density map

24

GeoJournal 1.1/1977

AGE

LITHOLOGY AND MAJOR METRES OIL/GAS OCCURRENCES

TERTIARY ~
Ill UPPER LOWER ~

~ INvERsION
MOVEMENTS

O- 1200 0-1400 0-1200

Zechstein carbonates contain the oil accumulations of the Auk (Brennand and van Veen, 1975) and the Argyll fields (Pennington, 1975). Furthermore, in part significant oil and gas shows and smaller fields have been encountered in Lower Cretaceous, Jurassic, Triassic and Devonian sands. In spite of the multiplicity of potential reservoir horizons the central North Sea is, with a few exceptions, poor in good reservoirs. Only rarely do two of the above listed reservoirs occur together. Multiple pay zones are decidedly rare. The main oil source rocks in the central North Sea are the organic Kimmeridge shales, which locally reach great thicknesses. A further potential oil source rock is provided by the Paleocene shales. In the deeper parts of the Central Graben both series have reached the necessary degree of organic metamorphism to have generated large quantities of oil and gas. However, in the shallower parts of the Central Graben only the Jurassic series can be considered as the contributing source rocks. Outside the Central Graben even these have only very locally reached a sufficient degree of organic metamorphism to yield significant quantities of hydrocarbons.
b) Structural style of traps

JURASSIC
0 ~ ~. <[: ~_ a:: i~ KEUPER

~ HEWETT,BUNTER
SANDS:IK_t3

0-500
0-500

MUSOHELK. ~ 1 0 / I BUNTER

HEWETTA D : IHEWETT SN S

O-250 O-ttOO O-12OO

0-600

(~
n-"

! II III H+FH+ ZECHSTEIN ~ L ~ ' ~ 4~4J,~-~-~ 0 iROTLIEGEND I ~ ~ ~ SANDS: ROTLIEGEND ~ J m-'- SLOCHTEREN, STEPHAN ~ ~ INDEFATIGABLE, I m - ~ I LEMAN, L-tO, __~-- - m /VIKING, ETC. WESTPHAL.~ - ~ . ~" ~
GAS SOURCE

O-tO0 200032OO

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STRATIGRAPHY OF SOUTHERN NORTH SEA

Fig 10 Stratigraphy Southern North Sea

discoveries. The occurrence of these sands appears to be essentially restricted to the northwestern, shallower parts of the Central Graben.

The structural style of the Central Graben is at least at deeper levels dominated by normal faulting. However, in

HEWETT
o

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INDEFATIGABLE
0
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/ /" /" / / / / / /" /" / /" /" /" /" /" /" /" /" / /" /" /" /" /" / / /" / / / /" / / /" /" /" /" / /" / /" /" /" / /" / /" / / / / /" / / /" / /" /" /" /" / /

NE /

0 I--] Tertiary Up. Cretaceous Low. Cretaceous ~ ~

50 Jurassic Triassic Zechstein Salt ~ ~

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KM

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6.7xVERTICAL EXAGGERATION

OeoJournal 1.1/1977

25

areas where Zechstein salts are present the typical rift valley tectonic style is overprinted and in part masked by halokinetic structures; this applies particularly to the base Cretaceous level (Fig 13). The hydrocarbon accumulations of the Central Graben are contained in a number of different types of structural traps that can be classified as follows (Blair, 1975): (i) Rotational fault blocks The Triassic-Jurassic collapse of the Central Graben gave rise to a tectonic style that is characterised by basement controlled rotational fault blocks. Some of these features may have been emplaced already during the Permian and may have been repeatedly reactivated during the Jurassic and Cretaceous (Fig 13). Structures of this type are particularly evident along the flanks of the Central Graben and in areas lacking thick Zechstein salts. Traps of this type produce from Jurassic and older reservoirs. Examples of fields contained in blockfaulted structure are the Auk (Brennand and van Veen ]975) and the Argyll fields (Pennington, 1975), which both produce from Zechstein carbonates, and the Piper (Williams et al., 1975) and Claymore fields which produce from Upper Jurassic sands. Sealing formations in all these fields are Mesozoic shales as well as dense Cretaceous carbonates.

mulations on flanks of diapiric features which pierce the base of the Tertiary are rather uncommon. Diapirism of Lower Cretaceous and Upper Jurassic clays may play a certain role in the Danish parts of the Central Graben. The distribution of the oil and gas fields in the Central Graben illustrates clearly that also this rather prolific hydrocarbon province is by no means of a uniform prospectivity. Fields occur in clusters such as in the Ekofisk and Piper areas. These clusters are due to the coincidence of a number of favourable factors such as the vicinity of trap providing large structures containing suitable reservoir horizons to hydrocarbon generating source areas. For example, the spectacular cluster of fields in the Ekofisk area is laterally limited mainly by the reservoir development in the chalk and the distribution of mature oil generating Kimmeridgian shales.

3.

Viking Graben Oil and GasProvince

This province can be truly designated as the most important oil province of Western Europe. Currently its technically recoverable reserves are estimated to amount to some 16 x 109 bbls of oil, condensate NGL and some 40 TCF gas.

(i i) Compaction structures These were formed at the base Tertiary level by differential compaction over deep-seated fault blocks and horsts of the Jurassic graben relief. By late Cretaceous times the latter was essentially levelled out by infilling Cretaceous shales and carbonates. The subsequent Tertiary overburden that reached thicknesses of up to 3500 metres led to the development of gentle, differential compaction structures over these older highs. Oil accumulations contained in this type of structures are the Forties (Walmsley, 1975) and the Montrose fields (Fowler ]975), both of which are producing from Paleocene deep water sands.
(iii)

LITHOLOGY AND MAJOR OIL/GAS OCCURRENCES PLEISTOCENEi ~ _-- _-_ --_ --

AGE

:~ I MIOCENE ~TT"~'. "F-~ I OLIGOCENE

~.

COD SANDS: COD,MoNTROsE,FORTIES, MAUREEN,

DANIAN
O 1~ W

EKOFISK, EDDA, WESTEKOFISK, /I ELDFISK,TOR,DAN 4 ALBUSKJELL I

Dlapiric structures
1 IIPPFR

S UC R C ORE OK
PIPER SANDS:

These were formed by the mobility of the Zechstein salts, and contain the fields of the Ekofisk area, which all yielded substantial production rates from the Danian and Maastrichtian chalks. Similar structures contain the Paleocene deep water sand fields Cod, Maureen and Lomond. All of these fields are contained in salt induced domal structures in which the reservoir level is not pierced by the Zechstein salts.

TRIASSIC

~
Iz C S ~ EHT b.l ~ ~

| ZECHSTEIN:
Jllr~ AUK A/6-1 V [ ARG~(LL

Most of these structures are the result of post-Paleocene halokinetic movements. In the case of chalk reservoirs this late deformation phase may have materially contributed to the generation of an effective fracture permeability, which increases the productivity of these otherwise low-permeable reservoirs (Harper and Shaw, 1974). Hydrocarbon accu-

ow. c

ON.I
BASE MEN~

CALEDONIAN

STRATIGRAPHY OF THE CENTRAL GI

Fig 12 Stratigraphy Central North Sea

26

GeoJournal 1.1/1977

A U K FIELD
O_

<>

EKOFISK FIELD
-0 2

8 O 50 100 150

8 200 KM

FORTIES
0 2

MAUREEN
0

6.7X VERTICAL EXAGGERATION

6
I i I

0 Eocene-Paleocene Paleocene Up. Cretaceous

50

1OO
Low. Cretaceous

KM Zechstein Salt Rotliegend and Devonian Basement

Jurassic (Volcanics) Triassic

Fig 13 Structural X-sections Ekofisk and Forties The potential of this province was highlighted for the first time in the summer of 1971 by Shell/Esso's giant Brent oil field discovery in northern United Kingdom waters which was shortly followed by the discovery of the large Frigg gas field by the Petronord group in the Norwegian offshore. Since then a number of large and very large fields including two further giant oil fields were discovered in rapid succession, the discovery ratio having been in the early exploration stages an astonishingly high one in two. This included, however, a number of discoveries that are probably not backed up by sufficient reserves to permit economic development. It should be noted that most of these fields are located in UK waters where most of this province is currently covered by exploration licences. In contrast to this much of the Norwegian part of this province is still closed to active exploration. As in the central North Sea the occurrence of oil and gas in the northern North Sea is closely linked to its Mesozoic graben system, The Viking Graben displays in its southern, narrower parts a north-south strike but veers off in a northeasterly direction in its northern, wider parts where it mergeswith the North Atlantic Shelf. a) Reservoirs and source rocks

The stratigraphic sequence of the Viking Graben is summarised in Fig 14 and related to the major hydrocarbon occurrences. The Middle Jurassic Brent sands are the most important reservoir horizon in the Viking Graben. They constitute the main productive horizon in the giant Brent, Statfjord and Ninian fields. Further Brent sand oil fields, which are, however, not in the

GeoJournal 1.1/1977

27

billion barrel class, are among others Cormorant, Dunlin, Heather, Hutton, Tern and Thistle. All of these fields are located in the northern parts of the Viking Graben, in the so-called Brent province. A further important reservoir horizon is formed by the Rhaeto-Liassic Statfjord sands. Their occurrence is generally limited to the more axial parts of the Viking Graben. They contain for example the deeper pools of the Statfjord and Brent fields as well as the Alwyn and Beryl oil fields. Upper Jurassic deep-water sands occur only locally. They contain several, in part significant, oil and condensate accumulations in both the northern and the southern Viking Graben. The Cretaceous series appear to be largely devoid of useable reservoir developments. Triassic sands play only a very subordinate role as hydrocarbon reservoirs. The Eocene deep-water Frigg sands form a significant gas reservoir in the central parts of the Viking Graben. They contain the large Frigg gas fields as well as a number of smaller fields such as Odin and East Frigg. The Frigg sands which were deposited by fluxiturbidites in a fingershaped pattern, were derived from a foreset sand complex on the Shetland Shelf. Major sand entry points coincide roughly with the place where these foreset sequences spill over the margins of the Viking Graben. Paleocene deep-water sands, although well developed in the Viking Graben, contain only minor hydrocarbon accumulations. As in the Central Graben, organic Kimmeridgian shales are the main oil source rocks in the Viking Graben. Coals contained in the Brent sands may have locally contributed some hydrocarbons. At present, there is no geochemical evidence that, for example, the lacustrine Devonian fish shales, as known from Scotland, are a contributing source rock in the offshore. Unlike the Central Graben, the Viking Graben province has no lack of suitable hydrocarbon reservoirs. It furthermore abounds in often large structures that are seismically readily mappable. b) Structural style of traps

AGE
PLEISTOCENE
PLIOCENE >,y < MIOCENE

LITHOLOGY AND MAJOR OIL/GAS OCCURRENCES

METRES
600t500

OLIGOCENE. __ _~ - - - -

- - . . .-.. .

FRIG6 SANDS: FRIGG,HEIMDAL, OST- FRIGG, ODIN

500-

900

ALOER
hi

200600

U PE"
~ - - / ' LOWER ~ - 7 UPPER MIDDLE I LOWER ~ ~ V e

souRcE ROC, /
' TURBIOITE

OIL AND GAS

600t200

SANOS

O- 1200

0-700 STATFJORD NINIAN,CORMORAN% HUTTON,HEATHER 0-300 01500

"'~]

T RIAS S 1C

:~_ ~ ~-~: .:-:-.-.'... . . .

STATFJORD, BERYL . .

BRENT, ALWYN,

0-2000

PERMIAN "DEVONIAN

~ == ....... BASEMENT
OF T H E V I K I N G

0-}00 ? o-t0oo?

CALEDONIAN
STRATIGRAPHY

GRABEN

Fig 14 Stratigraphy Northern North Sea

pre-Cretaceous rotational fault blocks; lower Tertiary compaction structures contain significant gas reserves in the central parts of the Viking Graben. (i)
Rotational fau/t b/ocks

The structural style of the Viking Graben is dominated by tilted rotational fault blocks that are typical for rift valleys (Fig 15). This structural style is particularly evident at the Late Kimmerian unconformity level in the northern parts of the Viking Graben, where it is not interfered with by halokinetic Zechstein salts and where it is within easy reach of reflection seismic, resolutions. Infilling of the Late Kimmerian relief by largely shaly and marly Cretaceous series led at the base Tertiary level to the development of gentle compaction features (Fig 15). The majority of the hydrocarbon reserves in the Viking Graben are contained in

These contain the oil and gas accumulations of the Brent, Statfjord and Magnus sands, whereby the Jurassic reservoir horizons are often partly or totally truncated over the crest of the trap providing structures by the unconformities at the base of the Upper Jurassic and/or the Lower Cretaceous. This resulted in the formation of the combined structure/ unconformity traps, which are typical for the Viking Graben. Fields of this type are such giants as the Brent, Statfjord and Ninian fields. All these fields are characterised by relatively gently dipping monoclinal reservoirs, whereby complications by subsidiary faults play only a minor role (Bowen, ] 975). Somewhat more complexly faulted structures contain such fields as Cormorant, Dunlin, Hutton and Thistle. Additional traps are provided by synthetic faults which in part do not

28

GeoJ ournal 1.1/I 977

CORMORANT
O_

HUTTON

BRENT

50

100

~50

2 0 0 KM'-'

FRIGG FIELD

o- r
F

-0 2

4li
8 ~. 0 OligocenePleistocene Paleocene-Eocene Up. Cretaceous 50 lO0 KM

6,7X VERTICAL EXAGGERATION

Low. Cretaceous durassic Triassic

Permian-Devonian Basement

Fig lS

Structural X-sectionBrentand Frigg

cut the late Kimmerian unconformity, but offset the reservoir horizons. Unconformity truncation traps can occur on monoclinal dip slopes. The Kimmeridgian oil source rocks, referred to also as "hot shales" due to their Gamma ray expression, overlie the Brent Sands more or less directly; this optirnises the migration of hydrocarbons expelled from these source rocks into the Brent sands. Somewhat more complex migration paths across the steep faces of the major fault blocks have to be assumed for hydrocarbon accumulations contained in the Statfjord sands. Permanence of the major structures since the early Cretaceous as well as an uninterrupted subsidence, which reaches today its maximum, contribute to the abundance of hydrocarbons in this province. Effective seals are provided for the Jurassic sand accumula-

tions by the Upper Jurassic Kimmeridgian and Lower Cretaceous shales as well as by Upper Cretaceous marls. The Lower Jurassic Dunlin shales provide separation between the Statfjord and Brent sand hydrocarbon accumulations. Hydrocarbon columns of up to 250 metres have been encountered. The porosity of the Brent sands reaches values of 25 % to 30 % and more, often yielding production test rates of over I0,000 b/d. (ii) Compactionstructures These contain the Frigg as well as a number of smaller gas fields. The productive early Eocene Frigg sands, display at their top a gentle, irregular relief that is only partly due to differential compaction of the Cretaceous series over preCretaceous highs. In most cases this relief results from the lateral wedging out of the fingershaped Frigg sands and the differential compaction of the offsetting shales.

GeoJournal 1.1/1977

29

Most of the fields contained in the Frigg sands have thin oil rings which cannot be produced economically. The hydrocarbons of these fields are probably derived from Kimmeridgian source rocks and had as such often a rather long, vertical migration path. Pure stratigraphic traps have as yet not been found in the Frigg sands. Eocene and younger clays provide excellent seals for the Frigg sand fields. So far only minor accumulations have been proven up in the Paleocene Cod sands of the Viking Graben. Also in the Viking Graben major hydrocarbon accumulations occur in clusters. This holds true particularly for the Brent province wh ich covers an area of some I000 km 2, and which contains about 12 x 109 bbls ofoil or over 50% of the total North Sea reserves. Similarly the cluster of gas fields in the Frigg area accounts for about 15 % of the total gas reserves of the North Sea. 4. Unproductive Areas

I000 to 2000 metres in the Dutch offshore as compared to 2000 to 3500 metres in the central North Sea. Thus the oil potential of much of the "Dutch" parts of the Central Graben must be considered as speculative. Furthermore, the gas potential of Bunter, and possibly Rotliegend prospects in the northern Dutch and German offshores carries a significant uncertainty since these areas may lay beyond the northern edge of the Carboniferous coal measures. In the Egersund basin (Fig 4) Kimmeridgian source rocks are present but have only locally in rim synclines of saltdomes reached a sufficient degree of organic metamorphism to generate sizable quantities of hydrocarbons. Tertiary thickness in the Egersund basin are in the order of 500 to 1500 metres. In addition, the Plio-Pleistocene uplift of the Scandinavian shield has also affected the eastern parts of the North Sea. This interrupted the hydrocarbon generating processes in the limited areas where these have set in during the Tertiary. So far, the only oil accumulations in the Egersund basin are the Bream and Brisling discoveries of the Phillips group, both of which are apparently of subcommercial magnitude only. In the area of the mid North Sea - RingkCbing-Fyn High Mesozoic as well as speculative Lower Paleozoic source rock series are apparently missing. The hydrocarbon potential of these large areas has therefore to be highly discounted since long-range migration plays an apparently insignificant role in the North Sea. Large areas in the Norwegian and UK parts of the North Sea have never been covered by concessions. Evaluation of the hydrocarbon potential of these areas is solely based on seismic data, regional geologic concepts and extrapolations from well~ in neighbouring concession areas. With the exception of parts of the Norwegian offshore, most of these unlicensed areas lie outside the "oil lane" of the Central and Viking Grabens. Examples are the West Shetland Shelf, the Horda Basin, parts of the Egersund Basin and the Skagerrak. Prospects in these areas carry the high risks of any new exploration play. Exploration in such speculative areas requires favourable concession terms, to provide the necessary incentive for the industry. To give an example, the entire German and Danish offshore areas are currently under concession cover although prospects in many of these areas are very speculative at best.

Areas located outside the above discussed hydrocarbon provinces that are currently under exploration licences or have been so in the past, appear to have only a limited hydrocarbon potential. This is based mainly on geochemical considerations, such as the presence or absence of suitable hydrocarbon source rocks, their depth of burial and the resulting level of organic metamorphism. A few specific examples are further discussed below. The Dutch part of the Central Graben forms structurally speaking the southern extension of the central North Sea oil and gas province. Yet, despite the drilling of some 30 exploration wells, no major hydrocarbon accumulations have been proven up in the northern Dutch offshore. The difference in the hydrocarbon potential between e.g. the UK and the Dutch sectors of the Central Graben is related to differences in the geologic evolution of the respective segments of this megatectonic unit. For example the Kimmeridge shales which constitute the main oil and gas source rock in the northern and central North Sea are replaced in the Dutch part of the Central Graben through lateral facies changes by the paralic, sandy Weald series (Heybroek 1975). Furthermore, the organic Lias Epsilon shales, which are the main oil source rock in onshore Germany are preserved in the Dutch offshore only in rim synclines of Zechstein diapirs, where they have only locally reached a sufficient degree of organic metamorphism to yield hydrocarbons. This is largely due to the late Cretaceous Sub-Hercynian and early Tertiary Laramide inversion movements, which have affected the "Dutch" parts of the Central Graben. These movements caused an interruption and even a reversal of the subsidence pattern, which was only locally fully compensated during late Tertiary. Tertiary sediments attain thicknesses of only

Hydrocarbon Reserves of the North Sea Technically recoverable reserves of the North Sea are currently estimated at some 23 x 109 bbls of oil and 90 x 1012 scf gas. A large percentage of these reserves is

30

GeoJournal

1.1/1977

concentrated in relatively small areas, such as the "Brent province", which contains about 12 x 109 bbls of oil and petroleum liquids and the Ekofisk area with some 3 x 109 bbls. A further concentration of fields emerges in the Piper area, with reserves in excess of 1.5 x 109 bbls. The Tertiary oil fields in the triangle Forties-Maureen-Montrose contain about 2.5 x 109 bbls of oil. The most important cluster of gas fields occurs in UK waters of the southern North Sea; a second group of gas fields lies in the Viking Graben in the area of the Frigg field. This illustrates that the majority of the hydrocarbon reserves of the North Sea is concentrated in relatively small areas. However, a number of smaller and medium-sized fields as well as several as yet only partly appraised discoveries occur outside these spectacular field concentrations. There is little doubt that with the progress of exploration further discoveries will be made in the established oil and gas provinces of the North Sea. This holds particularly true for the as yet only partly explored Viking Graben, of which large tracts in Norwegian waters are still closed to exploration. In the far more densely explored gas province of the southern North Sea chances for discovery of further large fields are, however, rather slim. What the ultimate technically recoverable reserves of the North Sea will amount to is in the realm of geological speculation. An increase of the presently known reserves by some 12 x 109 bbls of oil and 20 to 60 x 1012 scf of gas to a total of, say, 35 x 109 bbls of oil and petroleum liquids and some 110 to 150 x 1012 scf of gas is likely. Even the albeit vague possibility of a doubling of the present reserves cannot be excluded. However, based on the currently available geological knowledge, it is highly unlikely that the ultimate technically recoverable reserves of the North Sea will ever climb to 79 to 138 x 109 bbls of oil as postulated by Professor Odell (1974). Such extremely high reserve estimates that are based on statistical extrapolations have to be qualified from a geological point of view by a very low confidence of realisation; this in turn renders their use for planning purposes highly questionable. Estimates of the ultimate reserves of the North Sea have to take into consideration that in seismically readily mappable areas, such as the Viking and Central Grabens, the largest and most obvious prospects were drilled during the early exploration stages and that these often contain the largest reserves. Examples of this type are the Ekofisk and Forties fields, two giants in the central North Sea, which were both discovered at the onset of the success sequence in the Central Graben. Similarly, in the Viking Graben, the largest structures were tested first, which yielded in quick succession a number of medium-sized

to large fields as well as the three giants Statfjord, Brent and Ninian, which alone contain over half of the reserves currently established in the Brent Province. With the progress of exploration more complex and often seismically less well defined prospects will be tackled. For such prospects the risk of failure is generally higher and the rewards are often smaller. This leads to a "creaming-off" effect and a slower addition to reserves. Such an effect has been observed in many oil provinces and has certainly already started to show in the central and southern North Sea hydrocarbon provinces. When estimating the ultimate reserves of the North Sea, consideration should be given to the fact that its proven hydrocarbon provinces cover, even from a most optimistic point of view, at best only one third of its surface. Reserves assigned to the as yet unproductive two thirds of the North Sea ought to be discounted by a commensurate risk factor. If an attempt is made to translate the above quoted technically recoverable reserves into economically recoverable reserves, further discounting qualifications have to be applied. As already indicated in the introduction these include such factors as size of the technically recoverable reserves, geometry of the field, production rates, drilling depths, water depths and - particularly in the case of gas fields - distance to shore or distance to the next pipeline system in which the producible gas and/or oil can find the necessary ullage. (Hols, 1974-75). North Sea fields which are currently under development or for which firm development plans have already been drawn up contain cumulative recoverable reserves of some 1 8 x 1 0 9 b b l s of oil and petroleum liquids and some 70 x 1012 scf of gas. Fields for which development plans have as yet not been firmed up are either not yet fully delineated or are under current conditions non-commercial. The production of hydrocarbons started in the North Sea in 1967 when the British West Sole gasfield in the southern North Sea came on stream. The first oil production came in 1972 from the small Danish Dan field. By 1975, with the Ekofisk, the Forties and the Argyll oil fields on stream and continued development of the southern North Sea gasfields, the annual production from the North Sea had risen to almost 220,000 bbls of oil per day and 3.5 x 109 scf of gas per day. The number of fields coming on stream will rapidly increase during the next few years. Thus, based on fields currently under development, the production from the North Sea will culminate in the early 1980's at a level of 4 to 4.5 x 106 bbls of oil per day and some I 0 X 109 scf of gas per day. Thereafter production from these oil fields must be expected to commence declining unless significant new finds can be developed in time. This

OeoJournal 1.1/1977

31

must however, be viewed with some reservation when considering the lead-in time required to place a new discovery on stream. According to a report issued by Welling, Minton and Vanderslice (1975) the oil production from kr~ownNorth Sea fields is expected to cover in the early 1980's about 16 % of the oild demand of Western Europe. However, assuming that new finds will be made and rapidly developed, the same report estimates that production from the

Nort Sea may cover during the first half of the 1980's about 22 % of the Western European oil demand.

In conclusion, it can be said that in the North Sea the industry's exploration efforts have scored one of their most spectacular successes of the last decades. That this venture has taken place practically in the backyard of Western Europe is of particular importance in this day and age of constantly increasing energy cost and the uncertainty of traditional, imported supplies.

References
1. AL-KASSIM, F., RONNEVIK, H.C. and ULLEBERG, K.,
1975 Review o f the Jurassic offshore Norway. Proceedings Jurassic North Sea S y m p o s i u m 1975, Stauanger, Norwegian Petroleum Society, ] N N S S / 3 , 1 18

12. KENT, P.E., 1975 Review o f North Sea Basin developments.

JL geol. Sac. London vol. 131 p 4 3 5 - 4 6 8

13. LARSEN, 0 . , 1971 K / A r age determination from the Preeambrian o f Denmark. Geol. Survey o f Denmark 2 n d series No 97 p 1 34

2. BLAIRE, D.G., 1975 Structural styles in North Sea oil and

gas fields, in: Woodland A.W. fed): Petroleum and the Continental Shell- o f N o r t h w e s t Europe vol. I Geology, Applied Science Publishers p 3 2 7 - 3 3 8

14. LUTZ, M., KAASSCHIETER, J.P.H. & VAN WIJKE, D.H.

1975 Geological factors controlling Rotliegendes gas accumulations in the Mid-European Basin. Proceed. 9th World Petro. Congress T o k y o 5 / 1 2 - 1 6 / 1 9 7 5 voL 3 p 1 3 1 - 1 4 0

3. BOWEN, J.M., 1975 The Brent Oil Fields. Idem p 3 5 3 - 3 6 2 4. BRENNAND, T.P. & VAN VEEN, F.R., 1975 The A u k field.
Idem p 2 7 5 - 2 8 4

15. MARIE, J.P.P., 1975 Rotliegendes Stratigraphy and Diagenesis

in: Woodland A.W. fed): Petroleum and the Continental S h e l f o f N W Europe vol. I Geology; Applied Science Publishers p 205-210

5. BYRD, D.G., 1975 Geology o f the Ekofisk field, offshore

Norway. Idem p 4 3 9 - 4 4 6

16. ODELL, P.R., 1974 The North Sea Oil Province, a simulation 6. FOWLER, 1975 The Geology o f the Montrose field.
Idem p 4 6 7 - 4 7 6 m o d e l o f development, Energy policy vol. 2, no 4 p 3 1 6 - 3 2 9

7. HARPER, M.C. & SHAW, B.E., 1974 Cretaceous-Tertiary

Carbonate reservoirs in the North Sea. Proceedings Exploration Geology and Geophysics, Offshore North Sea Technology Conference and Exhibition. Stavanger 1974, G - I V / 4 p 1 - 4

17. PARKER, J.R., 1975 Tertiary sand development in the Central North Sea. in. Woodland A.W. fed): Petroleum and the Continental S h e l f o f N o r t h w e s t Europe vo/. I Geology, Applied Sceince Publishers, p 4 4 7 - 4 5 4

18. PENNINGTON, ].J., 1975 The Geology o f the Argyll field. 8. HEYBROEK, P., 1975 On the structure o f the Dutch part o f
the Central North Sea Graben. in: Woodland A. W. fed): Petroleum and the Continental S h e l f o f N o r t h w e s t Europe voL I Geology, Applied Science Publishers p 3 3 9 - 3 5 2 Idem. p 2 8 5 - 2 9 4

19. SOLLI, M., 1976 En Seismisk skorpeuders~kelse NorgesShetland. Thesis, University o f Bergen

9. HOLS, A., 1 9 7 4 - 7 5 H o w to evaluate the economics o f North

Sea oil fields. Petroleum Internat. N o v 1974 p 49, 50, 60, Jan 1975 p 4 3 - 4 5 , Feb 1975 p 4 2 - 4 3

20. STADLER, P., 1973 Influence o f crystallographic habit and

aggregate structure o f anthigenic day minerals on sandstone permeability. Geologie en Mijnbouw vol 52(4), p 2 1 7 - 2 2 0

10. HO R NAB ROO K, J .T., 19 75 Seismic in terpretation o f the West

Sole Gas fields. Norges geol. uondersakelse nr. 316 Bull 29~ 1 2 1 - 1 3 5

21. THOMAS, I.B., 1975 The Geology of the 5outhern North Sea.
Aberdeen Conference 1975, Handout Spearhead Publications Ltd. No 0 E - 7 5 , 216, p 1 7

11. I LLIES, J.H., 1970 Graben Tectonics as related to crust-mantle

interaction, in" ].H. lilies ~ S. MUller (eds), Graben problems, Internat. Upper Mantle Project Scientific Report No. 27. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart, 4 - 2 7

22. VOIGHT, E., 1962 Ober Randtrdge der Scho//enrYnder und

ihre Bedeutung im Gebiet der Mitteleuropffiscben Senke und angrenzender Gebiete. Deutsch. Geol. GeselL Zeitschr. vol. 114, 3 7 8 - 4 1 8

32

OeoJournal 1.1/1977

23. WALMSLEY, P.J., 1975 Oil and Gas d e v e l o p m e n t in the North

Sea. Proceed. 9th World Petroleum Congress T o k y o 5 / 1 2 - 1 5 / 1975, vol 3 p 1 3 1 - 1 4 0

26.

WILLIAMS, D., CONNER, D.C. & PETERSON, K.E., 1975

The Piper Oil field, UK North Sea: a fault block structure with Upper Jurassic Beach bar reservoir sands. In: Woodland A.W. (ed): Petroleum and the Continental S h e l f of N o r t h w e s t Europe vol. I Geology, Applied Science Publishers p 3 6 3 - 3 7 8

24. WALMSLEY, P.J., 1975 The Forties Field. in: Woodland A.W.
(ed): Petroleum and the Continental S h e l f o f N o r t h w e s t Europe vol. I Geology, Applied Science Publishers p 4 7 7 - 4 8 6

27. ZIEGLER, P.A., 1975 Geologic evolution o f the North Sea and
its tectonic framework. A m . Ass. Petrol. Geol. Bull 59(4) p 1073-1097

25. WELLING, MINTON & VANDERSLICE INC., 1975 The

future o f the worldwide petroleum industry 1975-1985~ a comprehensive survey o f operators, contractors, government agencies and others in the non-communist world~ Tulsa

28. ZIEGLER, W.H., 1975 Outline o f the geological history o f the

North Sea; in: Woodland A.W. (ed): Petroleum and the Continental S h e l f o f N o r t h w e s t Europe; the geology and the environm e n t vol. I Geology, Applied Science Publishers p 1 6 5 - 1 9 0