HYDROCARBON SYSTEMS OF THE BLACKSEA REGION

摘要

Hydrocarbon systems of the Black Sea region are represented by oil and gas fields, gasaccumulation in the sea water, huge gas outburst from the sea bottom, gas hydrate shows andwide distribution of mud volcanoes in the deep parts of the sea. New data on gas-bearing ofthe Black Sea area and correlation with results of geological exploration of gas hydratedeposits of different regions permit to revise gas hydrate reserves and consider the Black Seaas one of the richest gas hydrate region of the world. According to the latest calculation thereserves of hydrate methane of the Black Sea area are appreciated up to 1,330 trilllion m3The first commercial oil in the Black Sea region was discovered in the eighties byRomanian geologists in the fields Lebada West, Lebada East and Sinoe. In the Ukrainian partof the Black Sea no oil fields have been found in the meanwhile. Slight oil shows wereencountered in 2001 in the well Olimpiyska 400 during the testing of the Lower Paleocenearenaceous limestone. Main discoveries of commercial gas in the Black Sea were made byUkrainian geologists detected 8 fields (Golitsyne, Southern Golitsyne, Shmidt, Stormove,Crimean, Arkhangelske, Odessa, Bezimenne on the northern shelf. By ones gas field wereascertained on the Romanian (Doina) and Bulgarian shelf (Galata) [Fig. 1]Till present exploration for gas and oil in the Black Sea was concentrated at shallow depthnot more than 90 m. All gas fields in the Ukrainian part of sea have been discovered on thenorth-western shelf; whereas deep part of the sea remains unexplored. The latest geologicaland geophysical data indicate that the deep part of the Black Sea is of great possibilities.Therefore much attention must be concentrated on abyssal part of the Black Seas. Especiallyas the sea is comparatively shallow with maximum depth of 2200 m.The Black Sea is the most gas-polluted sea in the world. Its waters contain hydrogensulphide beginning from the depth of 110-130m in the central part and 150-170 m along itsperiphery up to the bottom. Concentration of hydrogen sulphide in the Black Sea watersamounts 420 μM or 2 billion tons of sulphur. The presence of hydrogen sulphide in theBlack Sea makes its water toxic, lifeless. There are no living creatures in these waters and thiszone is dead.