UK Atlantic Margin Exploration: Its Petroleum Geology and Associated Technological Challenges

摘要

The petroleum geology of UK Atlantic Margin presents a variety of technological challenges forrnexploration of both established and new plays, developing new discoveries and maximising productionrnin existing fields. The first exploration well was drilled in the area in 1972 and over the next 40 yearsrnnew plays have been developed and established plays re-visited. Exploration and development hasrnrequired new technological advances in order to push boundaries both in terms of engineering in harshrnenvironments and also geophysical tools to enable an understanding of the geology and fluids heldrnwithin the rocks.rnThis paper focuses on the petroleum geology of the region and highlights technical challengesrngenerated as a result of the geology and examples of how these have been overcome by application ofrninnovative techniques.rnUnder-explored areas in the Rockall region present opportunities, but with risks and uncertaintiesrnrelated to hydrocarbon source, the presence of reservoir and traps, which could be mitigated by arnbetter geological understanding aided by improved seismic imaging, in particular sub-basalt imaging,rnand remote sensing technology. Further challenges exist related to water depth, the extreme weatherrnconditions and the great distance to onshore installations.