Unlocking Permian and Carboniferous petroleum systems of the Southern North Sea
The northern part of the UK Southern North Sea (SNS) and the adjacent Mid North Sea High (MNSH) have seen a recent revival when it comes to exploration activity, with…
Geology & Geophysics
Have bottom currents defined the Golden Lane and determined updip prospectivity?
Since the prolific Cretaceous oil kitchen of the Canje Formation offshore Guyana was demonstrated by Lawrence and Bray (1989), an anomaly related to the lack of exploration encouragement away from…
Seismic velocity – A strong identifier of gas prospects
P-wave velocity (Vp) is an essential parameter for constructing seismic velocity models for geophysical exploration data, and porosity is the single most important factor affecting it, along with the type of…
Are outcrops the key to unlock the CCUS potential in the Middle East?
The Middle East region is under the spotlight of the carbon-neutral worldwide ambition. COP28 was a testimony of the effort put by the regional energy powerhouses. What if the success…
Tidal influence in a deep marine turbiditic succession
The Suriname-Guyana basin is a genuine exploration hotspot these days. But it is not only a hotspot from an economical point of view, it is also an area where new…
A famous North Sea unconformity in outcrop
The most important gas fields in the Southern North Sea region are reservoired in Upper Permian Rotliegend aeolian and fluvial sandstones. Thousands of wells have been drilled to test this…
Who’s Andy? And what did he know about faults?
Anderson’s theory classified faults based on the orientation and magnitude of the principle stresses. The magnitudes are defined by S1 (maximum stress), S2 (intermediate stress) and S3 (minimum stress). The…
The further from shore the more sand
Looking at this cross-section from the Norwegian Sea, showing Upper Cretaceous and Paleogene sediments, a surprising thing seems to happen. The amount of sand increases going westwards, away from the…
Middle East as an analogue
The Seram fold and thrust belt in Eastern Indonesia is an underexplored area. Yet, it shares many characteristics with fold and thrust belts with proven hydrocarbon potential in the Middle…
The source rock for Venus
Duncan Macgregor and his colleague Colin Reeves are working on a project that will result in the creation of a series of paleotectonic and paleogeographic maps of the African continent.…
Is there an equivalent of the Orinoco heavy oil belt in Colombia?
Many geologists in Colombia, at some point during their career, had a pressing question in mind: “Is there an equivalent of the Orinoco Heavy Oil as present in Venezuela in…
Can we get more comfortable with uncertainty?
Unfortunately, diligent and scientific handling of subsurface uncertainty is rarely undertaken. Hesitance to embrace uncertainty often derives from time, data and budget constraints, limited interdisciplinary understanding, accompanied by claims of…