Abstract
During the last 4 years, a number of surface geochemical studies have been undertaken in the Barents Sea. Acreage in all of the areas has subsequently been licensed for exploration. Sampling for surface geochemistry has been undertaken using a gravity corer, where samples were taken 2 m below the seafloor. The sampling grids were either regular or irregular based on known geological features in the areas, or a combination of the two. The samples were analyzed for interstitial gas, adsorbed gas, grain-size distribution, organic and inorganic carbon content, fluorescence of the hexane extract and heavy hydrocarbons in the hexane extract. The results from the different areas ranged from barren, i.e. no indication of petrogenic hydrocarbons at the surface; anomalies of petrogenic hydrocarbons, i.e. indicating the generation of gas, condensate or oil; to extremely strong anomalies of oil interpreted as indicators of direct leakage from source rocks or a defective caprock.
In the meantime a number of wells have been drilled over the surveyed areas, where the results vary from dry to oil/gas shows and to residual oil shows. Detailed results from the surveys are discussed and compared with the drilling results.
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Bjøroy, M., Løberg, R. (1993). Surface Geochemical Studies in the Norwegian Barents Sea: Comparison with Drilling Results. In: Spencer, A.M. (eds) Generation, Accumulation and Production of Europe’s Hydrocarbons III. Special Publication of the European Association of Petroleum Geoscientists, vol 3. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77859-9_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77859-9_9
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