Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority
Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority
CHAPTER 13 PETROLEUM POTENTIAL AND DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS IN DEEP-SEA AREAS OF THE WORLD V. I. Vysotsky, Petroleum Institute JSC VNIIZarbezhgeologia, Moscow, Russian Federation A. I. Gloumov, Russian Ministry of Natural Resources Moscow, Russian Federation In the oil industry, the term “deepwater” is applied to the deeper parts of the World’s Oceans with water depths of more than 500m. At these depths, the offshore extensions of marginal sedimentary basins and, less frequently, oceanic-type basins are located. About 120 of the known 511 sedimentary basins of the world have volume-balance methods. The total recoverable oil and condensate reserves are 36 Gt; gas, 63 TM 3 . The bulk of resources occur in the basins along the Atlantic Ocean margins. Deepwater hydrocarbon exploration began in the 1980s. Exploration work was particularly active in the Campos basin (Brazil), Gulf of Mexico (US sector), and West Africa (Angola, Nigeria). By the end of the century, exploratory wells reached sea depths of 3000 m, and development wells, depths of 2000 m. By the beginning of 2000, a total of 190 oil and gas fields with aggregate reserves of about 3 Gtoe had been discovered in deepwater areas. In the next 5 years, deepwater oil expenditure will exceed $70 billion forecasted spending. 1. Introduction The term “deepwater” has become quite common at the present stage of offshore petroleum exploration and development, and it carries a geological, and technical and economic sense. Geologically, it refers to the deeper parts of the World’s Oceans with water depths greater than 500 m. Passive and active continental margins, trenches, island-arc slopes, the continental rise, and the deep-sea basins of the World’s Oceans are located at these depths. In some parts of the World’s Oceans, these zones exhibit considerable petroleum potential. From the technical and economic perspective, these areas are the offshore areas where fixed bottomsupported drilling or production platforms cannot be used. Hydrocarbon prospecting and development at these water depths require special technical means and economic estimates. INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 484
At present, the technical and economic limit for permanent offshore platforms is a water depth of 300 metres in the North Atlantic (North and Norwegian seas) and 450 metres, in regions with less harsh environments. In future, the depth limit for permanent offshore platforms may be extended by means of new, stronger and more elastic materials. Exploratory drilling in water depths up to 400 metres dates back to the 1960s. Field development in water depths more than 200 metres began in the 1980s, when deepwater petroleum exploration rapidly expanded. In the 1990s, hydrocarbon exploration and development extended into new areas at even greater water depths. L. Weeks, an American scientist presented the first estimate of offshore hydrocarbon resources in 1971 at the 8th Petroleum Congress in Moscow. He estimated the offshore recoverable hydrocarbon resources of the World’s Oceans as 320 Gtoe (1 toe = 100 m 3 gas), consisting of 230 Gt 1 oil and 90 Tm 3 2 gas. In the following 20 years, new recoverable hydrocarbon resource estimates were regularly published. They varied from 100–150 Gtoe 3 to 1.5-2 Ttoe, primarily due to poor geologic knowledge of the World’s Oceans, the use of different sets of data, and assumptions of different geologic or economic allowances and limits. In all cases, however, the petroleum potential of deepwater areas (deeper than 500 metres of water) was never discussed independently. The Research institute VNIIZarubezhgeologia (Moscow, Russia) has repeatedly estimated deepwater oil and gas resources of the World’s Oceans within the framework of the quantitative estimation of world petroleum potential. The latest estimate that it made was in 1996, and was based on the available geologic and economic data. 2. Sedimentary Basins As The Main Object Of Hydrocarbon Resource Estimation Sedimentary basins of various sizes, structure and geologic history are considered the main object of hydrocarbon resource exploration. These basins are morphologically expressed in the modern crustal 1 Gt. Gigatonnes equal to one billion metric tons (tonnes) = 1000 million tonnes. 2 Tm3 - Tera cubic metres = 1012 cubic metres 3 Gtoe – Gigatonnes of oil equivalent INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 485
- Page 442 and 443: Table 3: Geochemistry of known mass
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- Page 454 and 455: ought the nickel price to a top. Th
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- Page 458 and 459: 14. J. -P. Lenoble (1992), Future d
- Page 460 and 461: 31. J. Francheteau, D. Needham, P.
- Page 462 and 463: 48. J. -P. Lenoble (1996), Les nodu
- Page 464 and 465: 66. J. -J. Prédali and J. -P. Polg
- Page 466 and 467: classification system, Mr. Lenoble
- Page 468 and 469: To recapitulate the sizes and possi
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- Page 472 and 473: international community is only jus
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- Page 476 and 477: The Secretary-General said that the
- Page 478 and 479: Mr. Nandan pointed out that the nex
- Page 480 and 481: problems would resurface, because i
- Page 482 and 483: prospecting would be more applicabl
- Page 484 and 485: dimensional seafloor massive sulphi
- Page 486 and 487: workshop, in relation to deposit ev
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- Page 490 and 491: sulphides and cobalt-rich ferromang
- Page 494 and 495: structure and filled with sediments
- Page 496 and 497: Basin groups are subdivided into ty
- Page 498 and 499: during the late Mesozoic-Cenozoic s
- Page 500 and 501: Figure 4: Volume density of initial
- Page 502 and 503: ITIPRHC = Vnr φHC γ 103 (Mmtoe),
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- Page 528 and 529: In the 1960's scientists discovered
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CHAPTER 13<br />
PETROLEUM POTENTIAL AND DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS IN<br />
DEEP-SEA AREAS OF THE WORLD<br />
V. I. Vysotsky, Petroleum Institute<br />
JSC VNIIZarbezhgeologia, Moscow, Russian Federation<br />
A. I. Gloumov, Russian Ministry of Natural Resources<br />
Moscow, Russian Federation<br />
In the oil industry, the term “deepwater” is applied to the deeper<br />
parts of the World’s Oceans with water depths of more than 500m. At<br />
these depths, the offshore extensions of marginal sedimentary basins and,<br />
less frequently, oceanic-type basins are located. About 120 of the known<br />
511 sedimentary basins of the world have volume-balance methods. The<br />
total recoverable oil and condensate reserves are 36 Gt; gas, 63 TM 3 . The<br />
bulk of resources occur in the basins along the Atlantic Ocean margins.<br />
Deepwater hydrocarbon exploration began in the 1980s. Exploration work<br />
was particularly active in the Campos basin (Brazil), Gulf of Mexico (US<br />
sector), and West Africa (Angola, Nigeria). By the end of the century,<br />
exploratory wells reached sea depths of 3000 m, and development wells,<br />
depths of 2000 m. By the beginning of 2000, a total of 190 oil and gas fields<br />
with aggregate reserves of about 3 Gtoe had been discovered in deepwater<br />
areas. In the next 5 years, deepwater oil expenditure will exceed $70<br />
billion forecasted spending.<br />
1. Introduction<br />
The term “deepwater” has become quite common at the present<br />
stage of offshore petroleum exploration and development, and it carries a<br />
geological, and technical and economic sense. Geologically, it refers to the<br />
deeper parts of the World’s Oceans with water depths greater than 500 m.<br />
Passive and active continental margins, trenches, island-arc slopes, the<br />
continental rise, and the deep-sea basins of the World’s Oceans are located<br />
at these depths. In some parts of the World’s Oceans, these zones exhibit<br />
considerable petroleum potential. From the technical and economic<br />
perspective, these areas are the offshore areas where fixed bottomsupported<br />
drilling or production platforms cannot be used. Hydrocarbon<br />
prospecting and development at these water depths require special<br />
technical means and economic estimates.<br />
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 484
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