F R O N T I E R E X P LO R AT I O N

The Norwegian Sea –

exploration in a frontier province

The Norwegian Sea continental margin is dominated by the deep-water Vøring and
Møre basins, which contain thick Cretaceous and Tertiary fills. To the east lie the Halten
Terrace, Nordland Ridge and Trøndelag Platform, with a cover of Triassic, Jurassic and
Cretaceous sediments. To the west, the Vøring and Møre Marginal Highs are overlain by
c) Statoil

a thick pile of early Tertiary lavas

40 GEO ExPro March 2007
David Mudge, Malcolm Gall and Katrine Holdoway, Ternan continuing high levels of exploration main plays are slope and basin fan sand-
Exploration in the Norwegian Sea in and development activity following stones of the Cretaceous and Palaeocene.The
the 1980s and 1990s was concentrated on announcement of APA 2007. In contrast, Jurassic is deeply buried and not considered
the Halten Terrace and along its faulted the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate an exploration target at the present time. The
margins. This is the Haltenbank province, (NPD) has postponed the start of the 20th key regional risk parameters are reservoir
where more than 200 wells have been licensing round until 2008 to allow more presence and hydrocarbon charge. Topseal
drilled, leading to some 50 discoveries, time for companies to develop a better is considered a secondary risk because of
including the 15 Jurassic fields now in understanding of the geology and plays of the likely presence of deep-water reservoirs
production. the frontier province. encased in mudstones that will provide
Drilling in the frontier Vøring and Møre regional seal.
basins did not start until 1997 and only Strategy for exploration in a To persuade oil companies to spend
15 wells have been drilled so far. However, frontier province money on frontier exploration, they need
these have resulted in six discoveries, This article looks at how play prospectivity to be convinced that both reservoir and
including Ellida, Stetind and the giant and exploration risk can be most effectively hydrocarbon charge are likely to be present,
Ormen Lange gas field. evaluated in the largely unexplored Vøring preferably at several stratigraphic horizons.
Haltenbanken is now an established and Møre basins, where there is only limited Drilling in Haltenbanken has provided
hydrocarbon-producing province with well and seismic data. In these basins the well data relevant to the Cretaceous and

Tectonic Elements of the Norwegian Sea, Faroe-Shetlands and Northern North Sea
The Norwegian Sea, Faroe-Shetlands and northern North Sea are major sion. The most prominent of these is the Jan Mayen Lineament, which forms
hydrocarbon provinces located along the northeast Atlantic margin. Structur- the boundary between the Vøring and Møre basins. The Norwegian Sea basins
al maps of the three areas have been integrated to help understand the geo- are separated from the Viking Graben rift system of the northern North Sea
logical history of this passive margin, which is bounded to the west by oceanic by the Møre-Trøndelag Fault Complex, which also forms the eastern margin
crust of post-Palaeocene age. The margin contains a series of linked NE-SW of the Faroe-Shetland Basin. The western seaboard of the Cretaceous-Tertiary
Cretaceous-Tertiary basins that overprint older Permo-Triassic and Jurassic basin system is covered with a thick pile of lavas extruded prior to the start of
rift systems with dominantly N-S and NNE-SSW trends. The basin trend is cut sea-floor spreading in the northeast Atlantic during the Eocene.
by a series of NW-SE lineaments that acted as transfer zones during exten-

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F R O N T I E R E X P LO R AT I O N
Palaeocene plays, but for a more confident A proven hydrocarbon system
evaluation, the Norwegian Sea needs to The hydrocarbon system in
be placed in its wider geological context Haltenbanken is now well understood. For
as part of the northeast Atlantic margin. the Jurassic plays in this province there
This region includes the northern North is charge contribution from two source
Sea and Faroe-Shetland basins, which are rock horizons: principally oil and gas from
major hydrocarbon producers, together anoxic marine mudstones of the Upper
with the poorly explored Rockall and Jurassic Spekk Formation, but also gas from
Porcupine basins, which also contain coals of the Lower Jurassic Åre Formation.
proven hydrocarbon systems. The presence of an active hydrocarbon
system in the frontier province has also
The Northeast Atlantic been demonstrated by a number of gas
depositional province and oil discoveries in Cretaceous and
The Northeast Atlantic basins share a Palaeocene sandstones. Depositional
common plate tectonic history and were environment mapping suggests that
affected by the same extensional and Upper Jurassic source rocks are present
thermal events. Basin development was throughout the Norwegian Sea region. The
associated with Jurassic rifting overprinted depth to the Base Cretaceous unconformity
by deep Cretaceous subsidence and shows that although deeper parts of the
late Cretaceous/early Tertiary uplift and Vøring and Møre basins are overmature,
volcanism. As a result, the basins contain there is significant potential for mature
a similar suite of Mesozoic and Tertiary Spekk Formation on the western flanks of
Exploration Provinces and Well Database plays. So our knowledge of reservoir and both basins. Mature source rocks are also
The Norwegian Sea contains two exploration source rock distribution is significantly predicted to be present on Jurassic intra-
provinces. Most wells, shown in red, have been enhanced by looking at the Norwegian basinal highs such as the Utgard High,
drilled in Haltenbanken, on the Halten Terrace
and western part of the Trøndelag Platform Sea as part of a single geological Grip High and Vigra High, and along parts
(light blue). The western frontier province province. Plate reconstruction has led to
comprising the Vøring and Møre basins has a better understanding of the tectonic
only sparse well coverage (dark blue). To the
west, these basins are separated from oceanic and thermal controls on the evolution
crust by a zone of thick Tertiary lavas. of basin architecture and depositional
facies development. It has also provided
evidence for the location and timing of
clastic input into the Vøring and Møre
basins from Greenland and the Norwegian
margin during the Jurassic, Cretaceous and
Tertiary.
The development of a common
stratigraphic framework for the Norwegian
Sea, Faroe-Shetland and northern North Sea
basins has highlighted the similarities in age
and depositional facies of the main reservoir
and source rock horizons. For example,
the late Triassic/early Jurassic transition
from fluvial and coal-bearing sediments
to transgressive marine sandstones and
mudstones is seen in both the Åre-Tilje-
Ror succession in Haltenbanken and the
Statfjord-Nansen-Drake sequence in the
Viking Graben. Similarities in facies are also
seen in the Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary
Reference Well for Cretaceous Plays
successions of the Faroe-Shetland, Vøring
Thick Upper Cretaceous sandstones have been
and Møre basins, e.g. the Sullom and Egga drilled in wells in the Vøring Basin. Lysing sand-
sandstones. stones were laid down in a slope channel setting,
Present-Day Upper Jurassic Maturity Finally, mapping across the artificial whilst the Nise sandstones represent basin-floor
The coloured area shows the present-day fan deposits. This well is located adjacent to
barrier of latitude 62°00’N gives a much the Nyk High and it is likely that the sands
Upper Jurassic source rock kitchen. Yellow
indicates overmature, areas of gas generation clearer picture of the structure of the Møre- were sourced from this structural feature during
are shown in orange and oil generation in red. Trøndelag Fault Complex, its continuation episodes of late Cretaceous uplift and erosion.
The oil, gas and condensate fields and discov- as the West Shetland Spine Fault, and its Hydrocarbons have been discovered in both sand-
eries are also shown. stone intervals in the Vøring Basin, and the Lysing
relationship to the Slørebotn, Magnus and and Nise plays are predicted to have significant
West Shetland basins. prospectivity in the frontier province.

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F R O N T I E R E X P LO R AT I O N
Vøring and Møre basins; however away
from well control, their presence remains
unproven. In order to model the distribution
of sandstones in the Norwegian Sea, gross
depositional environment maps have been
produced for each reservoir interval. These
show the likely distribution of shelf, slope
and basin environments and predict the
location of sand-prone fairways.
Construction of these maps is based
on interpretation of northeast Atlantic
palaeogeography for a series of time slices
during the Mesozoic and Tertiary, and
incorporates reservoir mapping from the
northern North Sea and Faroe-Shetland
basins. Regional seismic structure and
isochron mapping of key Cretaceous and

Upper Cretaceous Lysing Gross Depositional

Environments
This map shows gross depositional environments for
the Upper Cretaceous Lysing play, based on a wider
interpretation of northeast Atlantic palaeogeogra-
phy and tectonic elements. Shelf, slope and basin
environments are shown in shades of green and
blue; areas of sand-prone deposition in yellow and
orange. Zones of uplift and potential clastic sourc-
ing are shown in pink. The asymmetrical nature of
Cretaceous Palaeogeography, Northeast Atlantic sand input into the Vøring and Møre basins during
The Cretaceous depositional history of the north- the Turonian and Coniacian is clearly seen.
east Atlantic was dominated by the presence of a
seaway connecting the Atlantic and Arctic oceans.
The area of the Norwegian Sea is outlined in red.
The Vøring and Møre basins formed part of this
seaway. Sands were shed into these basins during
episodes of uplift and erosion along the Norwe-
gian margin to the east, and from Greenland and
smaller continental blocks, e.g. Jan Mayen, to the
west. This seaway eventually became the locus of
continental breakup and sea-floor spreading dur-
ing the early Eocene.

of the footwall of the Fles Fault Complex.

It is interesting to note the association
of Cretaceous discoveries with some
of these structural features. However,
the origin of these hydrocarbons is still
poorly understood and additional sources
may be present, for example, shallower
Cenomanian-Turonian ‘hot shale’ horizons
in the Upper Cretaceous interval.
Upper Cretaceous Nise Gross Depositional
Reservoir distribution Environments
Five reservoir intervals of Cretaceous Norwegian Sea Stratigraphy and Plays A major switch in clastic sourcing to the western
Twelve hydrocarbon-bearing plays have been margins of the Vøring and Møre basins took place
to Palaeocene age can be correlated in mapped in the Norwegian Sea. Most of the fields during the Campanian. Large-scale block faulting
wells drilled on the Halten Terrace, and in and discoveries are of Jurassic age and are located accompanied uplift of the marginal highs with Nise
the Ormen Lange area and Slørebotn Sub- in Haltenbanken. However, the proven presence of sands being shed eastwards into the basin system
reservoir and hydrocarbon charge in the frontier and deposited in slope and basin channels and fans.
basin. These are the Lange, Lysing, Nise, province together with the Ormen Lange gas discov-
Springar and Egga sandstones. Sandstones Sand input from the east ceased and there was
ery is very encouraging for future exploration, with passive onlap of the Norwegian margin.
of similar age also occur in wells in the the prospect of more giant fields being found.

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Tertiary horizons has been used for both
source rock maturity modelling and to
determine basin architecture, timing of
uplift and the likely location of clastic
source areas.

The way forward

Regional play analysis has been
successfully used by Ternan to assess
the remaining hydrocarbon potential of
basins in various stages of exploration
and development from mature to
frontier. In the Norwegian Sea, the
prospectivity of individual plays
has been evaluated by combining
the distributions of reservoir and
hydrocarbon charge.This approach
highlights extensive areas of play
fairway at Jurassic, Cretaceous
and Tertiary stratigraphic levels,
where regional risk is predicted
to be low. Blocks within these
fairways can then be high-
graded for detailed seismic
interpretation, leading to the
identification of potential
leads and prospects.
Both the under-explored Haltenbanken
province and the frontier basins hold
substantial potential for significant
discoveries in the future. Cretaceous Structural Setting, Norwegian Sea-Faroe-Shetlands-Northern North Sea
Plate reconstruction shows the deep Cretaceous basin system in dark green extending through the Nor-
wegian Sea, Faroe-Shetlands and northern North Sea. Understanding the regional uplift history of this
Ternan (www.ternan.com) is a wholly province is the key to locating clastic source areas for the different reservoir intervals. The pink areas
owned subsidiary of PGL, the Banchory- along the eastern margin of the basin system were sites of intermittent uplift and erosion for most of
based subsurface consultancy (www. the Cretaceous. They include the Shetland Platform, Frøya High and Nordland Ridge. During the late
Cretaceous there was a major palaeogeographic reorganisation with tectonic and thermal uplift of the
pglweb.com). western margin prior to extensive volcanism and plate separation during the Eocene. The Gjallar Ridge
and other highs shown in red were formed at this time.

About the authors

David Mudge (dmudge@ternan.
com) is Technical Director of Ternan. He
has developed a consistent approach
to regional play evaluation that uses
stratigraphic and basin analysis to map and
assess the hydrocarbon potential of basins
of the North Atlantic and Arctic provinces,
including offshore Norway, eastern Canada
and Greenland.
Malcolm Gall (mgall@ternan.com) is a
geoscientist with Ternan. He joined Ternan
at the beginning of 2005 and his experience
is focused on basin analysis and petroleum
systems modelling.
Katrine Holdoway (kholdoway@ternan.
com) is Managing Director of Ternan. She
is an exploration geologist with extensive
experience in regional studies, licensing David Mudge (right), Malcolm Gall and Katrine Holdoway with Dan Mander (centre left), who joined Ternan
round assessment and asset evaluation. at the end of 2006

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