Dear Explorationist,
GeoPublishing, in collaboration with TGS & VBER, invites you to join us for a “Western Barents Sea Lunch & Learn”, with presentations from VBER and the NPD. The event is free of charge.
Where: TGS’ office at Skøyen Atrium, Askekroken 11, 0277 Oslo.
When: Thursday, May 25th from 11:00 to 13:00.
How: Book your attendance by RSVP to aleksander.olsen@tgs.com by EOB 23rd of May (the event has limited seats). Please also let us know if you have any dietary restrictions or special requests.
Program
Paleogene basin history and prospectivity of the Western Barents Sea
Presented by Ben Manton at VBER, in collaboration with TGS
A new young source rock offshore western Svalbard proven with oil seep geochemical results – Possible regional implication for the westernmost Barents Sea
Presented by Rune Mattingsdal at NPD
New sharp eyes on the Western Barents Sea
Exploration in the Western Barents Sea along the continental margin has been limited with only a few wells and only one sub-commercial discovery. New geological data and an understanding of the Western Barents Sea have led to the expansion of the APA exploration area this year, announced on May 10th, motivating further exploration.
In his talk, Ben Manton is presenting their observations and prospectivity of this underexplored area. He will also explore the potential opportunities and challenges these changes may bring to various stakeholders.
Of particular interest is the Paleogene succession which is either not present or mudstone-dominated further east in the Barents Sea. In the west, however, wells such as 7316/5-1, 7216/11-1S, and 7218/11-1 have sandstone units either in the Eocene or Paleocene. The uplifted Stappen High is the likely Eocene sand source.
Why is the westernmost Barents Sea different from the more central Barents Sea in the Paleogene?
NPD together with UiT The Arctic University of Norway, have located oil seeps in several sites in the Barents Sea during their cruises, identified at the sea surface from multiple SAR satellite images.
Oil seeps offshore western Svalbard unexpectedly show that the oil is sourced from a Tertiary age or younger source rock. Such a young source rock is to our knowledge not previously reported from the Barents Sea or Norwegian‐Greenland Sea areas.
This source rock is most likely matured, without being deeply buried, due to high thermal gradients around the mid‐ocean ridge, with the migration of hydrocarbons laterally up‐dip towards the Svalbard margin.
If this is a regional source rock, it can be of significance for the whole Western Barents Sea margin, where it might be sufficiently buried for hydrocarbon generation below thick quaternary sediment wedges.
This topic will be covered in the talk by Rune Mattingsdal at NPD. Will we also get some updates from this year’s spring cruise, where NPD and UiT are hunting for new oil seeps in the frontier Western Barents Sea area?
Looking forward to seeing you there!