North Sea Graben

Commentary

The steps that the UK and Norwegian governments have taken has revitalised exploration, not only in the NSGB, but the wider North Sea. However, recent "Climate Change" initiatives could signal the end of further licencing in the North Sea.

Updated

August 17, 2023

Location

Description

The NSGB is dominated by an episode of late Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous crustal extension, which developed a number of distinct sub basins. Virtually all significant oil and gas accumulations in the northern North Sea are believed to have been generated within certain fine-grained, organic-carbon-rich marine strata of late Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous age; the Kimmeridgian shales accumulated in oxygen-starved rift basins and may locally thicken to 3,000m.

Summary

The Basin has been widely explored and developed. However, the presence of significant infrastructure and advances in development and completion technology has meant that the field size threshold for commercial development has been lowered significantly.