As part of
the NSTA’s published 2018/19 Activity Plan, the NSTA is publishing a set of
regional geological maps for the SW Approaches area. These maps represent the fourth
set of deliverables from a 3 year contract with Lloyd’s Register (LR) to
produce a series of maps and associated databases for the whole of the UKCS. Previous
sets of maps have been delivered for the Central North Sea and Moray Firth
(July 2017), the Southern North Sea (November 2017) and the Northern North Sea
and East Shetland Platform (July 2018).
All data
released with this set of geological maps is public domain data. The project
has, however, benefited from a number of additional third party data sources
which have been used to help inform final maps and/or derive interpreted
products. These include the BGS’s 21CXRM Phase 1 project on the source rock
potential of the SW Approaches area, Getech’s 21CXRM Phase 1 study on the structural
configuration of the area, CGG’s Target database and relevant products
available via the BGS’s Offshore Geoindex. TGS are gratefully acknowledged for
providing joined digital log data from LogLinePlus to enable the production of
lithology curves.
Due to the
high level, regional nature of the project, the maps are being produced for the
main geological time intervals e.g. Paleocene, Lower Cretaceous, Upper
Jurassic. Each time interval includes the following products:
• Depth
structure maps
• Isochore
maps
• Subcrop
& supercrop maps
•
Structural elements maps
•
Depositional facies maps
•
Reservoir distribution maps
• Source
rock maps
• Well
penetration maps
•
Hydrocarbon occurrence maps
This
delivery represents an interim product which is being made available now in
support of the 31st Frontier Licensing Round. A completed set of
maps and databases will be re-delivered by the end of August 2018 and will
incorporate the results from the NSTA-funded Frontier Basins Research project
which has been recently completed for the SW Approaches area by a research
consortium led by Durham University.