Abstract: Hydrocarbon Potential of the Neogene Formations from the Western Part of the North - Dobrogean Orogene (Romania)

PENE, CONSTANTIN, RODICA NEGULESCU*, DAN TEODORESCU

In the North - Dobrogean orogene area have been discovered more than ten oil and gas accumulations. The main reservoirs are Badenian, Sarmatian and Pliocene sands and sandy marls. Paleozoic and Mesozoic clastics are secondary reservoirs. The hydrocarbon accumulations mainly developed in the central part of this orogene, in the area situated to the northwest of Danube River, where Paleozoic and Mesozoic deposits are overlain by Neogene formations. The source rocks mainly consist of Dogger Bositra (Posidonia) shales and siltstones with Corg values between 0.03 and 2.1%. The burial of these rocks is more than 4000 meters in the Birlad and the Focsani Depressions, in the northern part and southwest of the study area. In these depressions took place hydrocarbon generation with onset in the Sarmatian and a critical moment in the Late Pontian. The seal consists of marls and claystones of Badenian, Sarmatian and Pliocene age.

The structural and stratigraphic are the main traps.

The correlation of geological and geophysical data suggests that the Neogene formations from the western part of the North - Dobrogean orogene have a high hydrocarbon potential. Seismic prospecting provided very good information about lithostratigraphy of the Neogene formations. The interpretation of the last seismic lines shows possible hydrocarbon traps represented by pinch-out and valley-fill in the Badenian and basal Sarmatian formations, and faulted anticlines and monoclines in the Pliocene deposits.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90942©1997 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Vienna, Austria