Assessment of Undiscovered Petroleum Resources of the Barents Sea Shelf

Introduction

In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an assessment of potential undiscovered, technically recoverable crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquid resources in the Barents Sea Shelf. These resources are assumed to be recoverable regardless of the presence of sea ice or depth of water. As with other areas assessed in the USGS Circum-Arctic Oil and Gas Resource Appraisal, this area shares important characteristics with many Arctic basins, such as sparse data, high geologic uncertainty, substantial petroleum-resource potential, and technical barriers that impede exploration and development. The Barents Sea Shelf, which lies entirely north of the Arctic Circle, contains an area of approximately 1,760,000 square kilometers between longs 0º and 80ºE. Most of this area offshore northern Norway and the Russian Federation lies under less than 500 meters of water.

Assessment Units

The Barents Sea Shelf contains several sedimentary basins separated by structural arches in the eastern part and a broad structural platform in the western part. The shelf was divided into four geologic provinces based on structural style—East Barents Basins Province, Novaya Zemlya Basins and Admiralty Arch Province, Barents Platform Province, and Norwegian Margin Province (fig. 1). The provinces were subdivided into eight geologically distinctive assessment units (AUs)—the Kolguyev Terrace, South Barents Basin and Ludlov Saddle, North Barents Basin, Novaya Zemlya Basins and Admiralty Arch, Barents Platform North, Barents Platform South, Western Barents Margin, and Arctic Norwegian Sea AUs (fig. 1). The Novaya Zemlya Basins and Admiralty Arch AU, although defined, was not quantitatively assessed because of a less than 10 percent probability of the existence of one undiscovered accumulation exceeding the defined minimum size of 50 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Petroleum System Elements

Analyses of petroleum and rocks from wells indicate sources of petroleum in Middle Triassic and Upper Jurassic mudstones, with possible contributions from underlying Paleozoic and other Mesozoic rocks. Because of possible mixing of petroleum, a single Paleozoic-Mesozoic Composite Total Petroleum System (TPS) was identified for the East Barents Basins, Novaya Zemlya Basins and Admiralty Arch, and Barents Platform Provinces. Along the west margin of the shelf, source rocks include Jurassic, Cretaceous, and possibly Paleogene mudstones, so a single Mesozoic-Cenozoic Composite TPS was identified for the Norwegian Margin Province.

Known reservoir rocks include Carboniferous to Permian, Triassic, Middle and Upper Jurassic, and Cretaceous and Paleogene sandstones, as well as Upper Permian spiculite. Potential reservoirs include upper Paleozoic carbonate rocks.

Known and inferred traps include structural highs with closures, fault-related structures, drapes over structures, stratigraphic onlaps and pinchouts along basin margins, carbonateshelf and reef-associated deposits, stratigraphic traps (for example, submarine fans and channels), and salt structures. Traps formed before and during petroleum generation.

Resource Summary

The USGS assessed undiscovered conventional, technically recoverable petroleum (discovered reserves not included), resulting in the estimated mean volumes of a probability distribution of approximately 11 billion barrels (1,750 million cubic meters, equivalent to 1,500 million metric tons) of crude oil, 380 trillion cubic feet (11 trillion cubic meters) of natural gas, and 2 billion barrels (320 million cubic meters, equivalent to 270 million metric tons) of natural gas liquids (table 1). Most undiscovered petroleum is estimated to be in the East Barents Basins Province.

BARENTS SHELF PROVINCES - 1050, 1062, 4012, 4017

Oil and Gas Fields (IHS Energy, 2007) Gas Not Reported Oil

Water Depth (m)

Assessed Arctic Provinces Assessment Units –1000 –500 –100

References

IHS Energy, 2007, International petroleum exploration and production database [current through December 2007]: available from IHS Energy, 15 Inverness Way East, Englewood, Colorado 80112 USA.

For Further Information

Assessment results are available at the USGS Central Energy Team website, http://energy.usgs.gov/arctic, or contact Donald L. Gautier, Task Leader for the USGS Circum-Arctic Oil and Gas Resource Appraisal (gautier@usgs.gov).

Barents Sea Shelf Province Assessment Team: T.R. Klett and Donald L. Gautier (assessing geologists), Kenneth J. Bird, Ronald R. Charpentier, David W. Houseknecht, Thomas E. Moore, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk, Marilyn E. Tennyson, and Craig J. Wandrey.

Acknowledgments

Information and data for the Barents Platform Province and Norwegian Margin were provided by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. Geographic information system analysis was performed by Feliks Persits.

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