Towards a Better Understanding of Hydrocarbon Potential at the Cross-Road of Europe, Middle-East and Asia (The Eastern Greater Caucasus)

Silvia Spezzaferri¹, Alessandra Negri², Shatilova Irina³, Talat Kangarli⁴, Jon Mosar¹, and Kakhaber Koiava^5
1University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
²Universita Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy
³Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia
⁴Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Baku, Azerbaijan
⁵Georgian Academy of Sciences, Tbilisi, Georgia

The Greater Caucasus is one of the world's major oil provinces, and area of geostrategic and geopolitical importance to western countries. Systematic exploration of these zones with new methodologies not presently used in Georgia and Azerbaijan, may remarkably help the socio-economic development of these countries in spinning-off hydrocarbon research. The CAUCASUS Project applies state-of-the-art technologies to improve our knowledge of the geological history and evolution of the Kakheti basin in the Eastern Greater Caucasus (Georgia and Azerbaijan), with final goal of optimizing the search for oil reservoirs. The Project is implemented by: 1) classical geology and geodynamic )mapping and cartography). 2) sedimentology - sequence stratigraphy. 3) Micro-palaeontology, which contributing biodiversity and ecological assessment, thus provides information on the evolution of the sedimentary systems. 4) Geochronology. Bio- stratigraphy is coupled with absolute dating of volcanic minerals, 5) Geophysics, by using seismic profiles and satellite imagery, to reconstruct balanced cross-sections. The data acquired will be combined in a GIS-based database to build 3D models of the distribution of sedimentary bodies, tectonic structures and reservoirs, to model hydrocarbon migrations and trapping in the region and to predict reservoir quality. The CAUCASUS Project, provides with new data obtained by state-of-the-art technologies for further integration into future tasks for the entire region. CAUCASUS is funded by the European Union INTAS Program Ref. N. 06-1000017-8930.Members are: Spezzaferri S. (co-ordinator); Negri A. Shatilova I. Kangarli T., (Team Leaders); Mosar J., Bochud M., Koiava K, Maisuradze L., Tlashadze G., Alania V., Isayev E., Guliyev E.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90072 © 2007 AAPG and AAPG European Region Conference, Athens, Greece