Circum-Mediterranean Region: Its Petroleum Potential

Michel T. Halbouty, Dennis S. Wood

The petroleum potential of the basins and provinces of the circum-Mediterranean region remains high and merits extensive continued exploration and evaluation. The forces that forged the extremely complex geology of this vast region are discussed in terms of a dynamic Tethyan tectonostratigraphic framework. Recognition of the mechanical framework provides a better understanding of the controls of depositional environment for source and reservoir sequences. Similarly, a dynamic view of traps in terms of growth faulting and growth folding in Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic times may be used to develop new exploration strategies and can be applied as a predictive tool for identifying new prospects and discovering new fields throughout the circum-Mediterranean region. The major structural features of the continental margins are discussed in terms of their significance for future exploration potential.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91032©1988 Mediterranean Basins Conference and Exhibition, Nice, France, 25-28 September 1988.