Natural gas from pre-westphalian sources in northwest europe - a new exploration target?

摘要

Westphalian coal seams are so far commonly accepted as the most important soruce rock in the Southern Permian Basin (SPB).The NW European gas Atlas,a joint study by hte geological surveys of Great Britain,The Netherlands,Denmark,Germany and Poland,offers a comprehensive overview of the geochemical and geological setting of the SPB,and for the first time allows a comparison of reservoir contents of lage-scale petroleum-bearing units.Surprisingly,gas origin in Rotliegend reservoirs is much more heterogeneous than anticipated before.Only in northern germany,Westphalian coal measures are the exclusive source rock for gaseous hydrocarbons.In the southern North sea,in the onshore area of the Nehterlands and even in the Dutch/german border area Base Namurian hot shales (marine kerogen) have significantly contributed to the reservoir contents.In contrast.Polish gas fields are predominantly sourced from Namurian coals or dispersed coaly matter.