Print this pageA Preliminary Assessment of the Hydrocarbon Potential for the Offshore Sydney Basin, Nova Scotia, Canada
Kris L. Kendell1, Paul J. Harvey2, D. Jack
MacDonald2, Kimberly A. Doane2, and Carl R.
Makrides3
1 Nova Scotia Department of Energy, B3J 3P7 Halifax, NS
2 Nova Scotia Department of Energy,
3 Canada Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum
Board, B3J 3K9 Halifax, NS
The Sydney Basin is visible in outcrop sections onshore in eastern Cape Breton and is believed to extend offshore as far as southwestern Newfoundland. The offshore portion of the basin consists of at least four major half-graben extensional subbasins bounded by a series of northeast trending and southeast dipping faults. These subbasins are primarily filled with early Mississippian Horton Group alluvial fan deposits of red bed conglomerate, sandstone and shales. Three wells have been drilled in the basin; North Sydney P-05 and North Sydney F-24 were drilled offshore and Birch Grove No.1 onshore. The offshore wells were drilled on the prominent North Sydney anticlinal structure. Both wells encountered gas shows but generally have porosities less than 10% and low permeability. Subsequent source rock evaluations from the P-05 well have shown a mature section that is gas prone at depth and may be prospective for light oil in the shallow section. Both wells were relatively shallow and drilled on a basement high; this has left the deeper, thicker and basinward Horton and overlying marine Windsor Group untested. Approximately 1800 km of 2D industry seismic from 1981 and 1983 has been reprocessed in an attempt to better understand the offshore portion of the Sydney Basin, the prospective plays and their potential for containing hydrocarbons.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90039©2005 AAPG Calgary, Alberta, June 16-19, 2005