Hydrocarbon Exploration in Western Greece

Minas Kapnistos, Evangelos Kamperis, Fedon Marnelis, and Konstantinos Nicolaou
Hellenic Petroleum SA, Marousi, Greece

Exploration activities in Western Greece focus in four geological provinces: the external Hellenides thrust fold belt, the Apulia-Adriatic foreland, the Neogene post-orogenic basins and the Hellenic continental margin. The first one extends in western Greece offshore and onshore. Expected reservoirs are the upper Cretaceous and Eocene fractured carbonates and breccias. Trapping mechanisms include hangingwall anticlines and footwall anticlines in subthrust position. Subsalt plays have been identified under the Mesozoic series at depths ranging between 4 and 5 kilometers. These structures have not been drilled up to now and can be considered as a promising exploration target.
The Apulia foreland is a frontier exploration region which covers the deep waters in NW Ionian Sea. Possible hydrocarbon plays are expected to be related with faulted block structures, slope deposits and reefal build-ups. These plays, not yet explored, resemble the ones associated with a number of fields discovered in the offshore Italy such as Rospo and Aquilla.
The Neogene post-orogenic basins are developed in Ionian Sea and promising hydrocarbon potential is expected in Miocene clastic reservoirs. Traps related with diapiric movements of the Triassic evaporites and strike-slip faults are identified. Finally, studies in the continental Ionian margin indicate exploration potential within the Miocene turbidites and slope deposits.
Seismic sections, structural models and well data support the high exploration interest and provide a better understanding of the hydrocarbons potential in Western Greece.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90072 © 2007 AAPG and AAPG European Region Conference, Athens, Greece