A Sleeping
Giant?
Reinvigorating Exploration in the Pre- to Post-Rift Succession of the South
Viking Graben,
Larsen, Eirik1, Christopher
Jackson2, Karla Kane3, Rachel Kieft3, Anne
Elise Tjemsland4, Unni Sjursen1, Sigmund Hanslien1,
Inga Wirowski5, Ellen Marie Kollen1, Helge Sognnes1,
Elisabeth Bjerkebæk1, Anna Sofia Gregerson1, Elisabeth
Bøhle Sletten6, Inger Winsvold1, Rhoar Lindanger1,
Per Varhaug5, Lars Jan Jaarvik1 (1) Statoil ASA,
Stavanger, Norway (2) Imperial College, (3) Imperial College, London, United
Kingdom (4) Statoil, Stavanger, (5) Statoil, Stavanger, Norway (6) Statoil ASA,
The South Viking Graben (SVG) is a mature
petroleum basin that still offers commercially significant exploration and
field-development opportunities. In addition to existing producing fields,
there are several discoveries ready for development and numerous exploration
targets within several diverse plays. As such, the SVG is a core commercial
area for Statoil. Currently the majority of production comes from Middle
Jurassic reservoirs in the Greater Sleipner area. Although the Middle Jurassic
play is now mature, Triassic, Cretaceous and Palaeogene reservoirs are less
explored, and the Upper Jurassic in particular, can be considered grossly
under-explored when compared to
Within an extensional basin such as the
SVG it is a major challenge to predict reservoir distribution and quality
within the syn-rift interval. To meet this challenge a multidisciplinary,
regional geological study was initiated in 2005. The integrated use of
biostratigraphy, sedimentology, sequence-stratigraphy, seismic-stratigraphy,
structural geology, seismic inversion and analysis of fluid and pressure data
has resulted in a revised regional geological framework for this mature basin.
Several exploration targets have been identified in the less-explored
stratigraphic intervals in addition to the better known Middle Jurassic section . Geological predictions and risk evaluation have benefited
greatly from this improved regional understanding, which in addition provides
support for investment decisions related to both exploration and
field-development.
This study demonstrates how an integrated
multidisciplinary study can generate new opportunities in a mature basin that
has been explored for more than 30 years.
AAPG Search and Discover Article #90063©2007 AAPG Annual Convention, Long Beach, California