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Chapter 1

An overview of the petroleum geology of the Arctic

ANTHONY M. SPENCER1, ASHTON F. EMBRY2, DONALD L. GAUTIER3,

ANTONINA V. STOUPAKOVA4 & KAI SØRENSEN5*
1
Statoil, Stavanger, Norway
2
Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
3
United States Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, USA
4
Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
5
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark
*Corresponding author (e-mail: kaisoerensen@hotmail.com; ks@geus.dk)

Abstract: Nine main petroleum provinces containing recoverable resources totalling 61 Bbbl liquids þ 269 Bbbloe of gas are known in
the Arctic. The three best known major provinces are: West Siberia–South Kara, Arctic Alaska and Timan– Pechora. They have been
sourced principally from, respectively, Upper Jurassic, Triassic and Devonian marine source rocks and their hydrocarbons are reservoired
principally in Cretaceous sandstones, Triassic sandstones and Palaeozoic carbonates. The remaining six provinces except for the Upper
Cretaceous–Palaeogene petroleum system in the Mackenzie Delta have predominantly Mesozoic sources and Jurassic reservoirs. There
are discoveries in 15% of the total area of sedimentary basins (c. 8  106 km2), dry wells in 10% of the area, seismic but no wells in 50%
and no seismic in 25%. The United States Geological Survey estimate yet-to-find resources to total 90 Bbbl liquids þ 279 Bbbloe gas, with
four regions – South Kara Sea, Alaska, East Barents Sea, East Greenland – dominating. Russian estimates of South Kara Sea and East
Barents Sea are equally positive. The large potential reflects primarily the large undrilled areas, thick basins and widespread source rocks.

This book is mainly a product of the 33rd International Geological
Congress (IGC) which took place in Norway, a country with strong
Arctic interests. As the Arctic becomes more accessible, interest in
its potential resources is increasing, as is public concern for the
environmental consequences of petroleum exploration and poss-
ible production. Additional public awareness has been created by
the ongoing activities of Arctic coastal states as they respond to
the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which has
been ratified by all Arctic nations except the United States. The
Convention stipulates conditions for granting coastal states sover-
eign rights seaward of the Exclusive Economic Zone (see Marcus-
sen & Macnab). Text references in bold type and lacking year of
publication refer to papers appearing in the present volume.
An additional contributing element to this volume is the assess-
ment of the petroleum potential of the 4.2% of the Earth’s surface
that lies north of the Arctic Circle by the United States Geological
Survey (USGS). The initial results of this study, the Circum-Arctic
Resource Appraisal (CARA; Gautier et al. 2009), became avail-
able at the International Geological Congress in Oslo in 2008. A
number of papers from studies performed as a part of CARA
(Charpentier & Gautier) are included in this volume, as are a
number of studies of the Russian Arctic, in particular its shelf
areas (Grigorenko et al.; Kaminsky et al.; Kontorovich et al.).
As a result, this book can present a relatively complete view of
Arctic petroleum geology.
Previous compilations on Arctic geology
Symposia dedicated to charting the state of knowledge of Arctic
geology, especially from the point of view of petroleum, were
held in North America at 10 year intervals from 1960 to 1981.
The resulting volumes (Raasch 1961; Pitcher 1973; Embry &
Balkwill 1982) contain a wealth of articles describing the lands
and shelves bordering the Arctic Ocean and the oceanic area
itself. Review articles summarized the earlier history of geological
thought (Eardley 1961) and the knowledge of mineral and pet-
roleum resources (Meyerhoff & Meyerhoff 1973) and hydrocarbon
resources (Meyerhoff 1982). Two special volumes described the
oceanic regions and the surrounding continental margins: Nairn
et al. (1981) and Grantz et al. (1990), with the latter including
reviews of the history of investigation and of the resources. The
27th IGC published a report on arctic geology (Gramberg et al.
1984). The last Arctic-wide, petroleum-focussed symposium
volume was from Norway (Vorren et al. 1993).
Russian geological studies and hydrocarbon resource assess-
ments in the Arctic sedimentary basins are connected with the
names of N. A. Gedroyts, I. S. Gramberg, V. N. Saks, N. A.
Bogdanov, Yu. N. Kulakov, R. M. Demenitskaya, M. L. Verba,
Yu. N. Grigorenko, O. I. Suprunenko, V. L. Ivanov, Yu. E.
Pogrebitsky, D. V. Lazurkin, L. I. Rovnin, D. S. Sorokov, V. E.
Khain, B. V. Senin, E. V. Shipilov and A. N. Malishev (Senin
et al. 1989; Bogdanov & Khain 1996; Rovnin 2004; Verba 2008;
Grigorenko & Prishepa 2009). The most significant of these inputs
were made by the scientific school of Academician I. S. Gramberg
(Gramberg 1988; Gramberg et al. 1993, 2004; Gramberg &
Pogrebitsky 1993; Salmanov et al. 1993; Gramberg & Suprunenko
2000).
Geological knowledge of the Arctic is built upon studies in the
islands and continents surrounding the Arctic Ocean, many of
which have spectacularly well exposed bedrock – vegetation-free,
ice-scoured and exposed in mountains and fjord walls. These
regions have recently been the subject of many, comprehensive,
finely illustrated summaries of their geology. The following is a
listing of some of these: Iceland – Sigmundsson et al. (2008);
Greenland – Escher & Watt (1976), Henriksen et al. (2009),
Henriksen (2008); Arctic Canada – Trettin (1991), Dixon
(1996); Alaska – Plafker & Berg (1994), Miller et al. (2002);
North Pacific realms – Nokleberg et al. (2001); Wrangel Island
– Kos’ko et al. (1993); Franz Josef Land – Dibner (1998);
Timan –Pechora – Nikonov et al. (2000); Svalbard – Harland
(1997), Dallmann (1999); Norway – Spencer et al. (1984),
Ramberg et al. (2008), Smelror et al. (2009).
Advancement of the geological knowledge of the Arctic calls for
international cooperation. Examples of this are the production of
comprehensive maps of the Arctic, notably by the Geological

From: Spencer, A. M., Embry, A. F., Gautier, D. L., Stoupakova, A. V. & Sørensen, K. (eds) Arctic Petroleum Geology. Geological Society, London, Memoirs,
35, 1 –15. 0435-4052/11/$15.00 # The Geological Society of London 2011. DOI: 10.1144/M35.1
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2 A. M. SPENCER ET AL.

Survey of Canada, which issued a 1:6 million geological map
(Okulitch et al. 1989) and then a 1:5 million geological map
(Harrison et al. 2008). Most recently, the USGS CARA work
has been based on another multi-institute compilation, the 1:6.7
million map of sedimentary successions in the sedimentary
basins of the Arctic (Grantz et al. 2009; Grantz, Scott et al.).
The new Arctic bathymetric map (Jakobsson et al. 2008) is the
basis for the map inside the front cover of this book. It is
obvious from these maps that, despite difficult accessibility, the
onshore geology of the Arctic is now well known, having been
furthered by a century of work by government agencies and by
the fascination of the region to the exploratory mind, in what
might be termed the ‘Nansen tradition’ (see Kristoffersen). In
contrast, only select parts of the Arctic marine realm are well
known. Much of the Arctic remains beyond drilling or can be
drilled only at extreme cost, as demonstrated by the
three-icebreaker ACEX expedition to the Lomonosov Ridge in
the summer of 2006 (Moran et al. 2006), but there are now plans
for a dedicated Arctic Ocean drilling vessel (Thiede et al.).
How the book is organized
The memoir starts with several contributions having the Arctic in
its entirety as their subject matter. These include the map of
Grantz, Scott et al. of Arctic sedimentary successions and their
tectonostratigraphic content, followed by two reconstructions:
Lawver et al. of Palaeozoic palaeogeography and Golonka of
the palaeoenvironments of the present day Arctic land masses
and their borders through Phanerozoic time. Two papers are
based on new Arctic maps of gravimetric and magnetic data result-
ing from international collaborative efforts: Gaina et al. and
Saltus et al. The latter discusses a topic which will be recurring
in papers to follow: the tectonic interpretation of the Amerasia
Basin and its shelves which together with the areas covered by
the major polar ice sheets remain our planet’s ‘white spots’.
Arctic resources that have already been found are dealt with by
Chew & Arbouille. The methods used in evaluating undiscovered
resources in CARA by the USGS are described by Charpentier &
Gautier and the results are summarized by Gautier, Bird et al.
Despite considerable uncertainty, there is a consensus that the
majority of resources yet to be found (on an oil equivalent basis)
occur within the Russian Exclusive Economic Zone. This
becomes evident from comparison of the USGS CARA assessment
with that of the resource potential of the Russian Arctic described
by Kaminsky et al. and by Kontorovich et al. (see Table 1.1).
The remaining articles are grouped in relation to four geographi-
cal regions (Fig. 1.1): Baltica, Siberia and its borders, Laurentia and
the Arctic Ocean Basin. The locations of the areas described in these
articles are shown on the map inside the front cover of the book.
The Baltica-related contributions are concerned with the
Barents Sea and the Timan –Pechora Basin. The latter’s economic
significance derives from the Devonian ‘Domanik facies’, the
oldest Phanerozoic petroleum system of the Arctic. The carbonate
strata containing both source rocks and reservoirs are described by
Bagrintseva et al. and by Klimenko et al. and the resource

Table 1.1. A comparison of the wildcat wells, discoveries, discovered resources and yet-to-find resource estimates for the regions of the Arctic

Region Area Wildcat Discoveries Total discovered recoverable Estimates of mean, Estimates of most probable
(106 km6) wells resources (3109 bbloe) unrisked, yet-to-find yet-to-find recoverable
recoverable resources of all resources in the basins in
Oil Gas of the Assessment Units in the region (3109 bbloe)
the region (3109 bbloe) (Kontorovich et al.)
(Gautier et al.)

Norwegian Sea 0.1 38 12 0.7 0.7 6

Barents Sea 1.4 4; 5; 2; 34; 54 50; 200
West (Norway) 0.4 80 25 0.5 1.5
East (Russia) 1.0 13 5 0.2 22.5
Svalbard 0.1 15 – – – –
Timan–Pechora 0.2 646 142 12.4 3.6 5; 3; 1 15
West Siberia and South Kara 0.7 426 92 22.0 226.3 10; 126 100
Sea
North Kara Sea 0.3 – – – – 9 20
Yenisey– Khatanga 0.4 28 16 0.1 3.4 24; 1
Lena–Anabar 0.2 13 4 Negl negl 5
Laptev Sea 0.8 – – – – 15; 9; 3 20
East Siberian Sea 0.3 – – – – 1; 4 5; 35
North Chukchi 0.2 – – – – 5
Siberian Passive Margin 0.2 – – – – 5
Arctic Alaska 0.5 317 61 23.1 6.8 14; 59; 4
Mackenzie Delta 0.1 196 59 1.4 1.8 13
Eagle Plain þ Northern 0.2 114 8 Negl 0.1
Interior Platform
Sverdrup Basin 0.3 108 20 0.5 2.5 1; 5
Canada Passive Margin 0.5 – – – – 9
North Greenland 0.1 – – – – 4; 5
West Greenland and Baffin 0.7 12 – – – 11; 22; 14; 14; 6
Bay
East Greenland 0.5 – – – – 21; 19; 4; 6; 2
Totals 7.8 2006 444 60.9 269.2

Sources for the information in Table 1.1: wells and discoveries from Chew & Arbouille (table 1); discovered resources from IHS (courtesy of K. Chew); yet-to-find
estimates from Gautier, Bird et al. (table 1) and Kontorovich et al. (table 2; converted to recoverable values using assumed recovery factors of 35% for oil and 70%
for gas). The probabilities associated with each of the estimates by Gautier, Bird et al. are shown on Figure 1.7. Note that each of the three data sources employs
different geographical areas for regions that they discuss. The wells, discoveries and discovered resources are north of 668N, but some of the yet-to-find estimates are for
areas that extend somewhat south of the Arctic Circle. Negl, negligible.
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
Fig. 1.1. The four-fold grouping of the tectonic provinces of the Arctic: continental cores, sedimentary basins, oceanic realms and the North Pacific rim. The numerical
values in the legend boxes are the areas of the provinces in 106 km2. Based on Figure 1.2.
potential of the Timan – Pechora Basin is covered by Schenk.
Regional, deep reflection, seismic lines covering the eastern
Barents Sea, the Kara Sea and the intervening Novaya Zemlya
fold belt are described by Ivanova et al. and these regions are
also assessed geologically by Stoupakova et al. A contribution
by Werner et al. similarly deals with the crustal structure across
the Arctic parts of both Baltica and West Siberia. The petroleum
systems of the Barents Sea region are comprehensively described
by Henriksen, Ryseth et al. Potential Triassic reservoir succes-
sions in the NW of the Barents Sea are discussed by Høy &
Lundschien who present good quality seismic sections illustrating
the increasing uplift of these strata towards the Svalbard – Franz
Josef Land. Uplift in the Barents Sea is also the subject of
another paper by Henriksen, Bjørnseth et al. Exploration has
inspired substantial optimism about petroleum potential of the
eastern Barents Sea as indicated in the contributions by Kontoro-
vich et al. and Khlebnikov et al. A summary of the USGS assess-
ment of undiscovered resources in the east of the Barents Sea is
presented by Klett & Pitman.
Arctic Siberia covers large areas in which knowledge of the sub-
surface geology is meagre: no offshore exploratory wells have
been drilled between the Laptev Sea and Wrangel Island and
seismic data are sparse, as noted by Kaminsky et al. The geologi-
cal character of the islands in this region are therefore of particular
importance, as illustrated in the paper by Drachev, who uses the
geology of Wrangel Island and the New Siberian Islands, together
with that of the adjacent mainland areas, to paint a picture of the
offshore geology and likely petroleum systems in this little-known
region. Supplementary views concerning this part of Russia are to
be found in Stoupokava et al. and in Grigorenko et al. The pet-
roleum potential of the Laptev Sea region, with its impressive,
active rift system, is the subject of the contribution by Kirilova-
Pokrovskaya et al. while the chapter by Klett et al. presents the
USGS appraisal of the arctic parts of the onshore north and east
3
borders of the Siberian craton. Ivanova et al. deal with the geologi-
cal structure of the southern Kara Sea and northern end of the West
Siberia Basin, an area with a huge perceived potential. The lack of
data over large areas of Arctic Siberia leaves substantial gaps in
understanding the regional tectonics of the eastern Arctic. Papers
on this subject and wider problems of interpreting the tectonics
of the Arctic Ocean region are authored by Pease and
Lebedeva-Ivanova et al.
A section of Laurentia-related papers begins with contributions
by Creaney & Sullivan, who deal with the Phanerozoic evolution
in relation to petroleum, and Colpron & Nelson, who describe the
Palaeozoic evolution of Laurentia. Kumar et al. present new deep
seismic lines from the Chukchi Sea and Bird & Houseknecht
deal with the most thoroughly studied sector of Arctic petroleum
geology: Northern Alaska. These are followed by two chapters
on the Beaufort passive margin by Houseknecht & Bird and
Helwig et al. – with the latter paper including new deep seismic
lines. The Sverdrup Basin is the subject of papers by Embry, by
Omma et al. by Chen & Osadetz and by Dewing & Obermajer.
Harrison et al. describe the Baffin fan which constitutes the third
largest Cenozoic delta of the Arctic after the MacKenzie Delta,
which built into the southeastern part of the Canada Basin, and
the Lena Delta, which built into the Eurasia Basin. The petroleum
potential of the entire region between Canada and Greenland
has been assessed by Schenk as part of the CARA work and the
petroleum exploration history of Greenland is described by
Christiansen. The final Laurentian papers cover the most in-
accessible parts of offshore Greenland: the NE Greenland shelf
is discussed by Gautier, Stemmerik et al. and the Lincoln Sea
by Sørensen et al.
The last group of papers addresses the Arctic Ocean basin.
Historical views of the scientific exploration of the Arctic Ocean
are presented by Kristoffersen and by Thiede et al., Marcussen
& Macnab review current work by coastal states to extend their
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4 A. M. SPENCER ET AL.

Fig. 1.2. A simplified map of the tectonic provinces of the Arctic. Compiled mostly following Grantz et al. (2009) and Harrison et al. (2008). The outline of the oceanic
crust in the Canada Basin follows Alvey et al. (2008, fig. 6b). Sedimentary thicknesses in Siberia are from Petrov et al. (2008) and Milanovsky (2007).
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW 5

Fig. 1.2. Continued.

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6 A. M. SPENCER ET AL.

offshore boundaries. Moore et al. assess the petroleum geology 60° N

and resource potential of the Lomonosov Ridge, a sliver of conti-

nental crust that was split from Baltica and Siberia by the Cenozoic
C
seafloor spreading that led to the formation of the Eurasia Basin.
Moore & Pitman contemplate the petroleum potential of the 60° N

C
Amundsen Basin itself. The last paper of the book, like the first, A
A T
?
has Arthur Grantz, whose scientific endeavours in the Arctic ?
? ?
?

span more than four decades, as the first author. It is concerned

with the evolution of the Amerasia Basin. This basin and its bor-
dering shelves remain the main challenge to our understanding
of Arctic tectonics and geology.
Middle Palaeogene Late Jurassic

Structure of the Arctic

30° N

The structure of the Arctic may be portrayed, as shown in 50° N

Figures 1.1 and 1.2, in terms of four elements:
T
† North Pacific accretionary terrane collage and its successor C
C
basins; A A
† oceanic basins and sedimentary prisms prograding onto these 0° N

basins;
† long-lived sedimentary basins established on Phanerozoic
sutures;
† continental cores with mainly neoProterozoic and Lower
Palaeozoic platform cover and their sutured margins. Late Devonian Middle Triassic

A main theme of Arctic geology is the assembly and disassembly

Baltica A Arctic Alaska
of the Pangea supercontinent through Caledonian – Hercynian – Plate boundary
Siberia C Chukotka
Uralian suturing events and subsequent rifting and seafloor Laurentia Thrust faulting
T Tajmyr
spreading in the Arctic and Atlantic beginning about 200 Ma Marine shelf and slope sedimentation
(Fig. 1.3). One might term this the Atlantic theme of Arctic Ocean crust
Petroliferous basin with this age source

geology. A second theme is the long-lasting tectonic activity, Sutured margin North Pole

going back at least to the late Palaeozoic, in the areas bordering Accreted/accreting terrane

the northern Pacific rim, which have brought about the accretion
to present day northeastern Siberia and northwestern North
America of a multitude of terranes with interleaved sedimentary
and magmatic rocks. Nokleberg et al. (2001) described this as a
‘collage of accreted terranes’; their complexity is illustrated by
Colpron & Nelson. While accretion is mainly a destructive
process in relation to petroleum geology, the processes involved
in the dismembering of Pangea are mainly constructive in relation
to the formation of hydrocarbon deposits. In other words, from a
petroleum geology point of view, the main dividing lines in the
structure of the Arctic are not the present day plate boundaries
but the distinction between the North Pacific accretionary
collage (NPAC) and the rifted parts of the North American and
Eurasian plates.
The Caledonian, Ellesmerian and Uralian orogenies sutured
the Laurentian, Baltic and Siberian shields in Silurian through
late Palaeozoic time but the three shields persist as the cratonic
cores of the Arctic continents to the present day. Basins bordering
these continental cores are, in general, prospective for hydro-
carbons.
By contrast, in the NPAC region, compressional tectonics led to
the formation of later orogenic belts: thus the Brooks Ranges in
Alaska and the Verkhoyansk Fold Belt in NE Siberia formed due
to accretion of Chukotka and the Kolyma –Omolon superterrane
in Jurassic –Early Cretaceous times (Lawver et al. & Golonka).
Young sedimentary basins occur in the NPAC region but are con-
sidered relatively unprospective (Haimila et al. 1990). The uncer-
tainty (Fig. 1.1) about the position of the boundary of the NPAC
region between the Laptev Sea and Wrangel Island is a key
reason for uncertainty about the petroleum potential of the East
Siberian offshore.
Ocean-floor formation is well dated as spanning most of the
Cenozoic in the North Atlantic and the Eurasian part of the
Arctic Ocean. In the Amerasian part of the Arctic, rifting as a pre-
cursor to ocean-floor spreading is inferred to have occurred during
the earliest Jurassic, followed by ocean-floor spreading in the
Fig. 1.3. Maps of palaeogeography of the Arctic based on Golonka’s maps for
the Late Devonian, the Middle Triassic, the Late Jurassic and the Middle
Palaeogene, representing the times of deposition of some of the major Arctic
source rocks, and inspired by the work of Ulmishek & Klemme (1990). Jan
Golonka kindly supplied extended versions of some of the maps appearing in
Golonka.
mid-Early Cretaceous (Grantz, Hart & Childers). Bordering
the oceanic basins are progradational sedimentary wedges,
which overlie long-lived basins on their continental side and
oceanic crust on the other and thus represent a transition zone
between the prospective shelf and the less prospective oceanic
basin. Three thick Cenozoic deltas – from the Lena and Mackenzie
rivers and in northern Baffin Bay – are in this zone. Other basins
in the zone can be glimpsed from the thickness contours on
Figure 1.2 – north of Alaska and Siberia and west of the Barents
Sea: these are the passive margin basins of Grantz et al. (2009).
Stratigraphy and geological history of the
sedimentary basins
The continental blocks projecting north of today’s Arctic Circle
travelled far during the Phanerozoic under the names of Laurentia,
Baltica and Siberia, as detailed by Lawver et al. and Golonka
(Fig. 1.3). At the start of Phanerozoic time all lay south of the
equator and all travelled northward throughout the Phanerozoic.
The suturing of these initially independent blocks led first to
the merging of Laurentia and Baltica during Silurian continent–
continent collision in the Caledonian Orogeny, lasting into the
Devonian. The Ellesmerian Orogeny is currently interpreted to
reflect terrane collision on northern Laurentia from Late Silurian
to earliest Carboniferous (Lawver et al.; Colpron & Nelson),
although the origin and nature of the colliding terranes is still
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
speculative. During the Permian Siberia and Kazakhstan collided
with Baltica, completing the assembly of Pangea. An outpouring
of vast volumes of basalt (the Tunguska flood basalts) took place
near the Permian to Triassic boundary, covering the northern
Siberian shield (Tunguska flood basalts) and areas now beneath
adjacent basins (Nikishin et al. 2002).
Large sedimentary basins, of prime significance to petroleum
exploration, developed on these intercontinental sutures through
extension and collapse of the former orogenic highlands that had
developed within the sutures. Thus, economic basement beneath
these basins is of Caledonian, Ellesmerian and Uralian ‘ages’.
Simplified stratigraphies of the basins, where drilled, appear in
Figures 1.4 and 1.5. From these sedimentary columns, a first con-
clusion must be their general similarity. The Upper Palaeozoic
successions consist of intermixed carbonates and siliciclastics
with sporadic occurrences of evaporites. In contrast, the Mesozoic
and Cenozoic successions consist almost entirely of siliciclastics,
which locally include intervals of coal-bearing strata. Although
not shown on Figures 1.4 and 1.5, the Lower Palaeozoic succes-
sions in Laurentia, Baltica and Siberia (Golonka) are also quite
similar. We consider this similarity surprising, since the Phanero-
zoic is a time span long enough for a continental block to travel
widely over the surface of the globe. Three blocks might therefore
be expected to exhibit both internally varying lithologies and
strong differences among them. Neither is realized. All three
display stratigraphic developments, namely warm water carbon-
ates overlain by clastics deposited in temperate climates that
reflect simple travel paths from tropical to polar latitudes. The con-
tribution of Golonka contains a remarkable set of facies maps that
detail this depositional history for the Arctic continents through
Phanerozoic time.
The transition from carbonate to clastic deposition, caused by
the Phanerozoic drift of Laurentia, Baltica and Siberia away
from equatorial to high latitudes, occurred during the Permian.
Passage through intermediate latitudes is witnessed by the depo-
sition of thick and widespread evaporites on the margins of both
Laurentia and Baltica during the Carboniferous and Permian.
Deposition of warm-water carbonates with stacked organic build-
ups in Late Carboniferous – Early Permian was replaced by more
extensive siliciclastic sedimentation in both shallow- and deep-
marine depositional environments on extensive marine ramps
during the Mid and Late Permian and Triassic. This effect was pro-
nounced in the areas surrounding the Uralian suture, which became
a major source of siliciclastics to northern Siberia and Baltica.
Conditions shifted towards a cold temperate climate during the
Mid –Late Permian as a result of which sponges dominated
the shallow water biota, leading to widespread chert deposition
(Beauchamp & Baud 2002).
The end of the Permian was characterized by widespread uplift
followed by tectonic collapse which was responsible for a massive
outpouring of flood basalts in northern Siberia and a rapid, marine
transgression beyond the former limits of the sedimentary basins in
this area (Metcalfe & Isozaki 2009). These catastrophic events and
related environmental effects led to the major P–T (Permian –
Triassic) faunal extinction events and ushered in a Mesozoic
world with new tectonic, depositional and climatic environments.
Siliciclastic deposition was established in sedimentary basins
throughout the Arctic at the start of the Triassic and continued
throughout the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, providing rich sources
of hydrocarbons (Fig. 1.3), as well as thick sandstone reservoirs
to hold them.
Triassic geological evolution in the Arctic was strongly influ-
enced by tectonic events in the adjacent fold belts. From Late
Permian to Early Triassic time, the final phase of the Uralian
Orogeny provided a vast supply of sediments which are as much
as 5–7 km thick in the extensional basins and consist of nonmar-
ine, near-shore and shallow marine environments. An Early
Triassic rift episode is recorded in many parts of the Arctic and
North-Atlantic regions and sediment supply in the Arctic was
7
high during this time. Following another episode of uplift and col-
lapse at the close of the Early Triassic, siliciclastic sediment input
was significantly reduced and the Middle Triassic is characterized
by the widespread development of phosphatic, organic-rich shales
from the Alaskan basins on the west to the Barents Sea area in the
east (Leith et al. 1993). Siliciclastic sedimentation increased in
many areas in the Late Triassic and the organic-rich facies
became much more limited in geographic extent (mainly western
Sverdrup and northern Alaska).
The extensional basins established during Late Palaeozoic and
the Triassic continued to receive variable amounts of siliciclastics
throughout the Jurassic and alternating sandstone-dominated and
shale-siltstone sequences characterize the stratigraphy in all
basins across the Arctic. Organic-rich facies were restricted to
times and areas of low sediment input and occur mainly in
Alaska and Siberia. Major transgressions occurred during the
early Toarcian, early Bajocian, early Oxfordian and early Titho-
nian and shale units of these ages are present in all Arctic basins
(Embry) and are often organic-rich and petroleum source rocks.
Also during the Jurassic, as the continental blocks migrated
further north, a distinct boreal fauna developed which had little
in common with the contemporary Tethyan fauna.
One of the more notable tectonic developments of the Jurassic
was the initiation and subsequent development of the Amerasia
Rift Basin between what is now northern Alaska and Chukotka
(Arctic Alaska plate) and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago
(Lawver et al.). Little is known about these rift basins because
they now lie beneath the thick continental terrace wedges on the
shelves and slopes of the Amerasia ocean basin. Current data indi-
cate that rifting began possibly as early as Sinemurian and no later
than latest Aalenian, and continued until the start of seafloor
spreading during the Hauterivian (Embry & Dixon 1994; Mickey
et al. 2002).
During the Cretaceous siliciclastic sediment delivery to the
Arctic basins intensified and was highest during the Early Cretac-
eous. New basins were formed in both extensional and compres-
sional regimes. Foreland basins developed in front of rising
orogenic mountain ranges in the North Pacific accretionary
region (e.g. the Colville Trough in front of the Brooks Range of
northern Alaska) and rift and ocean basins formed and/or contin-
ued to develop in the Amerasia region as well as in Baffin Bay
between Canada and Greenland. Significant transgressions which
followed widespread uplift events occurred in the early Valangi-
nian, early Barremian, late Aptian and in earliest Late Cretaceous.
Early Cretaceous deltaic deposits dominate most of the Amerasia
basins and alternations of sand-rich delta plain and delta front
deposits and shale-dominant prodelta and shelf strata are
widespread.
The second phase of seafloor spreading in the Amerasia Basin,
which followed the creation of continent –ocean transitional
crust during the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, was the intrusion
of a northerly trending belt of mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB)
into the central part of the Amerasia Basin in mid-Early Cretaceous
(Hauterivian and Barremian) time (Grantz et al.). Intrusion of the
MORB was followed by a huge outpouring of basalt related to the
Alpha Plume and resulted in the formation of the 30 km thick
Alpha and Mendeleyev ridges of the Amerasia Basin, as well as
widespread diabase dyke and sill emplacement in adjacent conti-
nental areas (eastern Sverdrup Basin and northern Barents Sea,
Buchan & Ernst 2006).
A brief interval of widespread uplift occurred at the Early to
Late Cretaceous juncture and, following this tectonic episode,
sediment supply was greatly reduced to both the extensional and
foreland basins that surround the Arctic Basin. By Turonian
time the sea covered most of the Arctic and bituminous muds
were deposited in starved basins from Alaska to Siberia
(Golonka). Sedimentation rates gradually recovered and most
basins were receiving deltaic to basinal siliciclastics from Santo-
nian through Maastrichtian time. Widespread uplift and associated
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8 A. M. SPENCER ET AL.

Fig. 1.4. Stratigraphy of the well-known basins of the western Arctic. Principal sources: (a) Sherwood et al. (2002); (b) Moore et al. (1994) and Magoon et al. (2003); (c)
Norris & Hughes (1997) and Dixon (1982); (d) papers in Trettin (1991); (e) Stemmerik & Håkansson (1991) and Håkansson et al. (1991); (f) Birkelund & Perch-Nielsen
(1976); (g) Gregersen et al. (2007). For locations see Figure 1.2. The arrows on the left of some columns link source rocks to reservoirs to indicate proposed
petroleum systems.

prominent regression brought the Mesozoic era to a close through-
out the Arctic.
The Cenozoic saw a new tectonic regime over most of the
Arctic. Rifting and subsequent seafloor spreading took place in
the North Atlantic and extended into the Arctic, where it created
both the Eurasian and Baffin Bay basins. Sedimentation rates
became high and large volumes of siliciclastic sediments were
funnelled into these Cenozoic extensional basins and also into
the Amerasia Basin. Exceptional thicknesses, perhaps exceeding
15 km, are associated with the Mackenzie and Lena Deltas and
thicknesses up to 10 km are common along the margins of most
of the oceanic basins (Grantz, Scott et al.). Compression and
deformation continued in the north-vergent North Pacific accre-
tionary collage region. Mountainous uplift and associated foreland
basins developed in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (Eurekan
Orogeny) and in the western Barents Sea (West Spitsbergen)
areas in the Palaeogene due to compression and transpression
related to seafloor spreading in nearby areas (Fig. 1.2). These
areas became uplifted by a kilometre or more in latest Palaeogene
to early Neogene time as compression continued (Henriksen,
Bjørnseth et al.).
Major transgressions occurred in early Paleocene, early Eocene,
late Eocene, earliest Oligocene, late Oligocene and earliest
Pliocene in the Beaufort – Mackenzie Basin in the SE corner of
the Canada Basin (Dixon 1996). Most of these events followed
episodes of tectonic uplift and in some cases folding and faulting
and they probably reflect tectonic extension and collapse of the
basin floors. The climate remained warm during much of the
Paleocene and Eocene but started to cool in Oligocene times and
continued to deteriorate throughout the Neogene, leading to the
alternating glacial/inter-glacial conditions which now character-
ize the Arctic.
Petroleum geology
Exploration
The first exploratory drilling in the Arctic was government-
sponsored and carried out for strategic reasons – on the south
shore of the Laptev Sea in the 1930s and in northern Alaska in
1944 (Chew & Arbouille). The first significant petroleum
discoveries in onshore Arctic basins were made in the decade
from 1960 to 1970: in the Eagle Plain, Sverdrup Basin and Mack-
enzie Delta regions of Canada, in West Siberia, in Timan – Pechora
and in Arctic Alaska. The finds in West Siberia and Timan –
Pechora extended existing prolific provinces northwards, but in
Alaska the 1968 discovery of the supergiant Prudhoe Bay field
opened a major new petroleum province.
Offshore drilling started later: in the Beaufort Sea in 1973, West
Greenland in 1976, the Barents Sea in 1980, the Pechora Sea in
1982 and the Kara Sea in 1987. Discoveries in the Beaufort,
Pechora and Kara seas extended proven petroleum provinces to
the north. In the Barents Sea new petroleum provinces were dis-
covered: in the Norwegian sector, in the SW, in 1981 and in the
Russian sector, where the super-giant Shtokman gas field was
found in 1988. As a result of this exploration, there are now nine
main petroleum provinces containing a total of 444 discoveries
in the Arctic with total discovered recoverable resources of
61 Bbbl of liquids and 269 Bbbloe of gas. Four provinces
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW 9

Fig. 1.5. Stratigraphy of the well known basins of the eastern Arctic. Principal sources: (h) Nøttvedt et al. (1993); (i) Henriksen et al.; (j) Gramberg (1988); (k) Timonin
(1998), Schenk; (l) Gurari et al. (2005), Skorobogatov et al. (2003); (m) Pogrebitskiy (1971). For locations see Figure 1.2, and for explanations of symbols and
patterns see Figure 1.4. The arrows on the left of some columns link source rocks to reservoirs to indicate proposed petroleum systems.

dominate the resource picture: West Siberia – South Kara
(22 Bbbl þ 226 Bbbloe), arctic Alaska (23 Bbbl þ 7 Bbbloe),
Barents Sea East (0.2 Bbbl þ 23 Bbbloe), and Timan –Pechora
(12 Bbbl þ 4 Bbbloe) (Table 1.1).
Source rocks
Although a wide variety of potential source rocks, ranging in age
from Proterozoic to Cenozoic, have been identified in the Arctic,
most of the petroleum discovered to date – the proven petroleum
systems – is derived from a few narrowly defined stratigraphic
intervals in the Devonian, Triassic and, especially, Jurassic.
On the Siberian craton, south of the Arctic Circle, giant oil fields
have been sourced from Proterozoic strata. Chemometric analysis
of biomarker and isotopic data (Peters et al. 2007) suggests that at
least four genetic families of oils are present; Upper Riphean
source rocks, particularly those of the Iremken Formation
account for most of the known oil (Ulmishek 2001), including
accumulations on the Baykit High.
Organic-rich, marine rocks of Devonian age were deposited on
the east margin of Baltica and the west margin of Laurentia, where
they have sourced important oil-prone basins in front of the west
side of the Urals and in western Canada. Oils in the Timan –
Pechora Basin were probably sourced from the Late Devonian to
Early Carboniferous marine Domanik Formation (Ulmishek
1982). In northern Laurentia the Ellesmerian orogeny has prob-
ably destroyed most Devonian sources. Lacustrine shales with
high TOC occur in Devonian strata onshore in northeastern
Greenland (Christiansen et al. 1990) and the Upper Carboniferous
strata in central East Greenland and the Sverdrup Basin
contains organic-rich lacustrine shales (Christiansen et al. 1990;
Piasecki et al. 1990). In eastern North Greenland, the Upper
Carboniferous and Permian succession is fully marine with the
older units consisting of carbonates and evaporites (Stemmerik
2000). During the later Permian, however, marine shales accumu-
lated widely in East Greenland (Surlyk et al. 1986; Christiansen
et al. 1993) and may serve as source rocks in the adjacent basins
offshore. Late Permian marine black shales occur in several
wells in the western Barents Sea (Henriksen, Ryseth et al.).
Triassic source rocks are the most widespread in the Arctic.
Middle and Late Triassic (Anisian –Carnian) marine shales with
good to excellent source potential and proven productivity occur
along the northern rim of Laurussia from Alaska to the Barents
Sea (Leith et al. 1993). They were deposited at intermediate
latitudes within a huge back-arc embayment (Fig. 1.3), located
between the landmasses of North America and Eurasia. The Trias-
sic Shublik formation has generated most of the discovered oil in
northern Alaska (Peters et al. 2006), including most of the oil in
the geochemically mixed, supergiant, Prudhoe Bay Field, the
largest oil field north of the Arctic Circle. In the Sverdrup Basin,
most if not all of the known petroleum accumulations are believed
to be sourced from Middle to Late Triassic strata (Schei Point
Group), with lesser sources in rocks of Early and Late Jurassic
age (Brooks et al. 1992). In the Barents Sea region, the
TOC-rich, phosphatic, Middle Triassic Botneheia Formation
crops out on Spitsbergen and is believed to have sourced at least
some oils in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea. In the
Russian sector, equivalent rocks have been buried to great
depths, which may explain the gas-prone quality of most discov-
ered hydrocarbons in that area, outstanding among which is the
supergiant Shtokman gas field.
Upper Jurassic source rocks were deposited at higher latitudes
than the Triassic source rocks and in shallow basins far removed
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10 A. M. SPENCER ET AL.
from the North America/Eurasia embayment (Fig. 1.3). Upper Jur-
assic marine shales are the principal source rocks for most of the
oil and much gas in the main West Siberian Basin (Kontorovich
et al. 1997). Seven oil families have been identified in these depos-
its on the basis of geochemical signatures. More than 80% of the
identified oil was sourced from the Bazhenov Formation, an
organic-rich, siliceous and calcareous shale of Volgian to Berria-
sian age, but the Middle Jurassic Tyumen Formation also contrib-
uted (Kontorovich et al. 1991; Peters et al. 1993, 1994; Petrov
1994). Upper Jurassic strata may also have been the source for
hydrocarbons in other Siberian Basins, including the Yenisey –
Khatanga Basin and as far east as the Laptev Sea. Significant
oil and gas volumes in northern Alaska, including part of the
mixed petroleum deposits in the Prudhoe Bay Field were derived
from Upper Jurassic marine strata of the Kingak Shale (Peters
et al. 2006).
Marine shales of Upper Jurassic age are also thought to have
sourced most of the known petroleum in the Norwegian Sea.
TOC-rich Upper Jurassic strata are also present throughout
much of the Barents Shelf, although they are only mature in
restricted areas. These beds sourced some of the oil and gas in
the Hammerfest Basin. Source rocks occuring in Upper Jurassic
marine shales in the Kimmeridge-clay equivalent Hareelv
Formation of northeastern Greenland, are postulated to extend
offshore and could provide a world-class source interval on the
continental shelf.
Cretaceous and Cenozoic marine shales are known to have
sourced petroleum systems in northern Alaska (Peters et al.
2006) and source rocks of Palaeogene and Cretaceous ages gener-
ated the oil and gas accumulations in the Mackenzie Delta. Marine
strata of Cretaceous age are postulated to be important, but as yet
untested, source rocks in the Alaskan Chukchi Sea. In Baffin Bay,
Davis Strait and West Greenland, several potential petroleum
source rocks, including Palaeogene, Lower and Upper Cretaceous
and Ordovician, have been suggested from geochemical data and
geological evidence. Oil seeps described from onshore west
Greenland provide evidence that a petroleum system is or was
active in that area (Christiansen & Pulvertaft 1994; Christiansen
et al. 1996; Bojesen-Koefoed et al. 1999; Gregersen & Bidstrup
2008). An oil seep offshore of Scott Inlet on Baffin Island
(Balkwill et al. 1990) has been interpreted as most likely having
a marine shale source (Fowler et al. 2005) and the oil is interpreted
to have been sourced from shales similar to the TOC-rich Upper
Cretaceous Kanguk Formation exposed on Ellesmere Island. In
the western Barents Sea, Barremian organic-rich shales have
been drilled (Henriksen, Ryseth et al.).
Finally we should mention the Azolla event. Drilling near the
North Pole on the Lomonosov Ridge near the North Pole has
demonstrated the existence of an organic-rich interval (Moran
et al. 2006) within the Eocene section. The interval was created
by freshwater algal blooms during the warmest part of the
Palaeogene, at a time when occasional isolation of the Arctic
Ocean is likely to have occurred before the tectonic opening of
the Fram Strait.
Discovered petroleum systems
Nine main petroleum provinces are now known in the Arctic:
the West Siberia –South Kara, Arctic Alaska, the East Barents
Sea, Timan –Pechora, Yenisey –Khatanga, the Mackenzie Delta,
Sverdrup Basin, the West Barents Sea and the Norwegian
Sea (Table 1.1). Together these contain 432 discoveries with reco-
verable resources totalling 61 Bbbl liquids þ 269 Bbbloe gas. Four
of these provinces dominate: West Siberia – South Kara, Arctic
Alaska, East Barents Sea and Timan – Pechora. The following
paragraphs summarize the petroleum systems, reservoirs and
plays of these nine provinces. According to Magoon & Dow
(1994), petroleum systems should be linked to and named from
their source rock. In the Arctic, however, source rocks occur in
abundance, being present in almost all systems from the Protero-
zoic to the Palaeogene, which often creates uncertainty in deter-
mining the petroleum system responsible for specific oil and
gas deposits.
A Proterozoic petroleum system has resulted in giant oil and gas
finds in the Tunguska region of east Siberia (Klett et al.), but these
lie about 1000 km south of the Arctic Circle. Major bitumen belts,
however, probably from the same source rocks, also occur north of
the Arctic Circle. These lie in Proterozoic and Palaeozoic rocks on
the margins of the Anabar Shield (Meyerhoff & Meyer 1987;
Fig. 2).
The oldest petroleum system with conventional fields in the
Arctic, both in terms of the age of the sources and the timing of
generation, is in the Timan – Pechora province. There, 16 Bbbloe
resources – principally oil – occur in 142 finds that include nine
giant fields (.0.5 Bbbloe). Reservoirs are Silurian to Permian
shallow marine carbonates, sometimes reefal, and often fractured
(Bagrintseva et al.) and Devonian and Permian sandstones. The
fields occur in belts of gentle anticlines and commonly consist
of multiple, stacked hydrocarbon pools at depths ranging from 1
to 4 km. The principal source is in Late Devonian strata but
other source rocks range from the Ordovician to the Permian.
Maturity was achieved by Carboniferous time (Klimenko et al.,
Fig. 13.12). The anticlinal traps formed in the Permo-Triassic in
response to Uralian orogeny to the east. The stacked hydrocarbon
pools indicate kilometre-scale vertical migration, allowing the
mixing of hydrocarbons from different sources.
Arctic Alaska with resources of 30 Bbbloe is the most
prolific province sourced from Triassic rocks, but it also had
important source rocks of Jurassic and Cretaceous age (Bird &
Houseknecht, Fig. 34.4). The resources occur in 61 discoveries;
the largest is the supergiant Prudhoe Bay oil field (16 Bbbloe)
but there are also seven other giant fields. The principal reservoirs
are sandstones in the Triassic (200 m thick in the Prudhoe Bay
Field) and the Lower Cretaceous. The fields occur in truncated
anticlines with gently sloping limbs on the Barrow Arch at
depths from 1 to 3 km. The arch is part of the Beaufort Rift
Shoulder, formed in Jurassic to early Cretaceous times in response
to the opening of the Canada Basin. Maturity of the Mesozoic
sources was achieved in the foreland trough of the Brooks Range
orogen as a result of sedimentary loading in Cretaceous to Palaeo-
gene times. Long-distance northward migration of as much as
200 km filled the traps on the Barrow Arch and allowed the
mixing of oils from the different sources.
The Sverdup Basin in the Canadian Arctic archipelago contains
20 discoveries concentrated in the western part of the basin, with
resources totalling 3 Bbbloe, predominantly gas. The sandstone
reservoirs range from the Lower Triassic to the Cretaceous with
the most important being Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic
(Embry). Some fields have stacked pools (e.g. Hecla, with
depths that range from 500 to 1000 m and Whitefish with depths
that range from 900 to 2000 m). The fields occur in anticlines
with gently dipping limbs which were present by Eocene times.
Maximum burial was in Paleocene times, after which there has
been kilometre scale uplift. Middle to Upper Triassic strata are
commonly considered the main source rock, but an analysis by
Dewing & Obermajer suggests they are not gas-mature in the
area of the gas fields, implying a deeper source rock.
In the East Barents Sea five discoveries have total resources of
23 Bbbloe, almost all gas. There is one supergiant field (Shtokma-
novskoye, 21 Bbbloe) and two giant fields. The sandstone reser-
voirs are mainly Upper to Middle Jurassic, but gas also occurs in
Triassic reservoirs. The traps are gentle domes with a field area
of 1200 km2 at Shtokmanovskoye, where the approximately
50 m-thick Middle Jurassic main reservoir contains a gas column
of approximately 150 m at a depth of 2100 m. This field is in the
centre of the basin where the total sedimentary column is 15 km
thick. Presumed Triassic marine source rocks have achieved gas
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW 11

maturity over wide areas and are the most likely sourcing candi-
date. Neogene uplift in the east Barents Sea amounted to
0.5– 1 km (Henriksen, Bjørnseth et al., Fig. 17.10). In the West
Barents Sea, the Goliat Field has some oil in a Triassic sandstone
reservoir that is considered to have been sourced from Triassic
marine strata (Ohm et al. 2008) and a Triassic-sourced petroleum
system may be widespread there also (Henriksen, Ryseth et al.
Fig. 10.30).
In the West Barents Sea the total discovered resources amount to
2 Bbbloe, mostly as gas in the Hammerfest Basin, probably
sourced from both Upper Jurassic and Middle Triassic marine
shales. The largest gas field in the basin, Snøhvit (0.7 Bbbloe), is
reservoired in Lower –Middle Jurassic sandstones at a depth of
2300 m, but porosities are low (12 –18%). The trap is a late Juras-
sic fault block and oil staining extends for 100 m below the thin oil
leg. The widespread Neogene uplift of the western Barents Sea
region, amounting to 1– 2 km has had an important effect upon
the petroleum geology (Henriksen et al.) by giving low reservoir
porosities at shallow depths, terminating generation from source
rocks and leading to the re-distribution of hydrocarbons, as evi-
denced by the numerous residual oil columns encountered.
The Norwegian Sea north of 668N contains 12 discoveries with
resources totalling 1.4 Bbbloe. The one giant field – the Norne
oilfield (0.7 Bbbloe) – is reservoired in Lower and Middle
Jurassic sandstones in a Late Jurassic fault trap at 2500 m depth
and was sourced from the Upper Jurassic marine shale. This
shale is the predominant source rock for this mid-Norwegian
petroleum province. To the west and NW scattered gas finds in
Cretaceous reservoirs occur in a region where the Upper Jurassic
source is so deep that either re-migration or a shallower source
rock is implied.
In West Siberia and the South Kara Sea, north of 668N, nine
supergiant fields, 31 giants and 52 other discoveries contain total
resources of almost 250 Bbbloe, 90% of which is gas. Sourcing
of these vast amounts of gas remains a matter of dispute (Fjellanger
et al. 2010). Contributions from different sources are likely:
especially from coaly Cretaceous strata and coaly Lower –
Middle Jurassic strata; possibly from Upper Jurassic marine
shales; and some gas may be of biogenic origin. The traps are anti-
clines with gently dipping limbs and huge extent. The largest field
(Urengoy, 68 Bbbloe) extends over 2400 km2. Also, the fields
contain many stacked pools from depths of 1000 to 4000 m, in
sandstone reservoirs ranging from Turonian to Lower Jurassic.
The most important reservoirs are thick fluvial –deltaic sandstones
of the Albian –Cenomanian Pokur Formation. The combination of
multiple sources with multiple, thick reservoirs and anticlines with
extensive, gentle closures created the most prolific hydrocarbon
province in the Arctic (Table 1.1).
The youngest proven petroleum system in the Arctic occurs
in the Mackenzie Delta. In the south, onshore, hydrocarbons
occur in Cretaceous and Jurassic sandstones that were sourced
from Jurassic strata (Parsons Lake Field). Off-shore, to the north
most fields are reservoired in Upper Cretaceous or Palaeogene
sandstones and their hydrocarbons were sourced in Upper Cretac-
eous or Palaeogene rocks. The total discovered resources in the
59 discoveries amount to 3.2 Bbbloe, a little more than half of
which is gas. There are no giant fields in the Mackenzie Delta.
The largest is the Taglu gas field with resources of 0.4 Bbbloe.
Fields have stacked pools and occur in closures associated with
growth faults.
Future petroleum provinces
The area of the Arctic north of the Polar Circle totals
c. 21  106 km2 and sedimentary basins underlie almost 40% of
this area (Fig. 1.1). Of the total area of sedimentary basins
(c. 8  106 km2) there are discoveries in 15%, dry wells in 10%,

180
160 64 160
Arctic Circle

140 140
70

Oil & gas fields

120 120
0.7 Many discoveries

80 25% 0.4 Few discoveries

0.8 Wells, no discoveries

100 100
Seismic grids,
3.3 no wells
50%
0.4 Sparse seismic lines

25% 2.2 No seismic

80 80

80
0.4 Cumulative area,
106 km2
60 60

70
40 40

0 1000 km
20 64 20
0

Fig. 1.6. An outline of the intensity of petroleum exploration in the Arctic.

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12 A. M. SPENCER ET AL.

180 180

Arctic Ci Arctic Circ

rcle le

14 / 1 1 / 0,5
30 59 / 1
5 / 0,24
5
3 4 / 0,54
13 / 1 4 / 0,29 1 / 0,22
35
2 / 0,4

5 / 0,42 3 / 0,43 15 / 0,54

5 / 0,46 20
9 / 0,54
9 / 0,43
1 / 0,5
1/1 2 / 0,14 3 / 0,4

3 5 / 0,22
3
24 / 1
9 / 0,5
20

11 / 0,25
5 / 0,25 248
4 / 0,5
10 / 1
100
126 / 1
14 / 0,28 22 / 0,5
54 / 0,5 200
5 / 0,22
6 / 0,5 21 / 0,65
4 / 0,36
23 3 / 0,54
14 / 0,3 5/1 50 15
19 / 0,72 4 / 0,49 34 / 1 1/1
2 / 0,49
6 / 0,26 2 5/1 16
2 / 0,29

1.4 6 / 1
0 1000 km

0 0

DISCOVERED RESOURCES YET-TO-FIND RESOURCES

Gautier, Bird et al. 2011 Kontorovich et al. 2011
Total discovered
Oil & Gas Fields 16 recoverable resources 126 / 0.50 Mean unrisked recoverable 20 Unrisked recoverable
in petroleum province resources in assement unit resources in basin
(Bbbloe) (Bbbloe)/Estimated probability (Bbbloe)

Fig. 1.7. Discovered and yet-to-find petroleum resources of the Arctic (sources in Table 1.1). The left map shows the Assessment Units of Gautier, Bird et al. (yellow
regions outlined in red). The right map shows the regions assessed by Kontorovich et al. Bbbloe, billion barrels oil equivalent.

seismic coverage but no wells in 50% and no seismic data in 25% new potential. Undiscovered Cretaceous and Cenozoic petroleum
(Fig. 1.6). Much of the Arctic is unexplored. systems could be present in many areas.
The USGS CARA project (Gautier, Bird et al.) estimated that
for the Arctic as a whole the yet-to-find resources (mean, risked,
recoverable) in the 48 (of 69) evaluated assessment units (AU) State of knowledge
will total 90 Bbbl oil þ 279 Bbbloe gas. Eleven regions, contain-
ing 30 AUs, have large mean, risked resources (Bbbloe): West When in 2004 the three-icebreaker expedition ACEX set out to
Siberia – South Kara, 136; Arctic Alaska, 73; East Barents Sea, drill the Lomonosov Ridge near the North Pole, it had a strong
c. 61; East Greenland, c. 34; Yenisei –Khatanga, 25; West scientific rationale, as expressed in the mission proposal
Greenland, c. 25; Laptev Sea, c. 15; Mackenzie Delta, 13; (Backman et al. 2002) abstract:
Timan –Pechora, c. 8; West Barents Sea, c. 8; and the Norwegian The ridge was rifted from the Kara/Barents shelves during early Palaeogene
Sea, 6 (Fig. 1.7). Note that eight of these 11 regions are proven time and subsequently subsided to its present water depth. Since that time
hydrocarbon provinces; the three ‘new’ provinces are East and sediments of biogenic origin, eolian and ice-rafted origin have accumulated
West Greenland and the Laptev Sea. The remaining 18 evaluated on the ridge crest. In our primary target area between 878N and 888N these
AUs are almost all ‘new’ provinces and all of them have mean sediments are about 450 m thick, indicating an average rate of sedimentation
risked yet-to-find resources smaller than 5 Bbbloe. The least of c. 10 m/m.y. throughout the course of the Cenozoic.
understood of the 48 evaluated AU’s in the Arctic are the six pro- Disappointingly, for reasons yet to be understood, the sequence
graded continental margin wedges that lie west and north of the turned out to lack sediments of Middle Eocene to Early Miocene
Barents Sea and north of Siberia, Alaska and Canada. age representing a lacuna of c. 25 Ma, thus illustrating lucidly
The estimates by Kontorovich et al. are similar in ranking the what is the main challenge to the bringing forward understanding
yet-to-find resources of the South Kara Sea and East Barents Sea of the petroleum geology of the Arctic, namely insufficient strati-
high, but they are more optimistic about the offshore regions graphic information.
north of Siberia than the USGS CARA estimates (Fig. 1.7). Further adventure into the Arctic along the track pioneered by
The thick and complete sedimentary columns present in many the ACEX expedition (Moran et al. 2006) might be realization
basins in the Arctic, plus widespread presence of Palaeozoic and of the vision of Thiede et al. of a dedicated Arctic drillship and
multiple Mesozoic source rocks suggest that numerous petroleum innovative geophysical exploration techniques, as described for
systems remain undiscovered. Figure 1.8 attempts to portray this in example by Kristoffersen. Exploration by energy companies
stratigraphic form. Proven Triassic- and Jurassic-sourced pet- beyond the shore and near-shore Arctic environment is not likely
roleum systems are the most prolific, but several areas may have to expand our basic knowledge of Arctic geology at an appreciable
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW 13

Fig. 1.8. A stratigraphic diagram to illustrate the

proven and possible petroleum systems of selected
Cenozoic

Stratigraphy
regions of the Arctic. Solid columns (yellow,
Known
green) show the known or likely extent of the
? Possible stratigraphic columns. Black question marks
Cretaceous

indicate that occurrence of strata of those ages is

? ? possible. The stratigraphic intervals coloured dark
green (in five intervals) or light green (in 10
? ? ? Petroleum Systems intervals) are known to have sourced proven
Proven: major petroleum systems. Green question marks (six
Jurassic

? ? ?
? (>10 Bbbloe
intervals) indicate possible source rock ages for
discovered)
known discoveries. Many of the yellow intervals
? could contain source rocks which, if mature, could
Proven: minor
(<10 Bbbloe have given rise to petroleum systems that have not
Triassic

? ? discovered) yet been discovered, especially in those regions

where there are no exploration wells (North Baffin
? Some evidence Bay, NE Greenland, North Kara Sea, Laptev
?
Sea, East Siberian Sea, North Chukchi Basin) or
Palaeozoic

? ? ?
only few exploration wells (US Chukchi Sea, West
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rate because much of the data thus obtained may not be shared
with the scientific community. Energy companies and the Arctic
nations should therefore consider joining efforts with the scientific
community in exploring the Arctic and extending basic data
acquisition into areas of which we presently know very little. As
demonstrated by the ACEX expedition, seismic acquisition
cannot stand alone: stratigraphic information is needed to ground-
truth seismic data.
This introduction benefited from reviews by A. Grantz, G. Ulmishek, K. Chew,
E. Henriksen, G. B. Larssen, E. Johannessen, E. Bjerkebæk and C. Cooper. The
drawings were prepared by A. Hanssen, N. Ringset and E. Tjetland in Statoil
and by E. Melskens, H. K. Petersen and W. Weng in GEUS. Spencer wishes to
thank Statoil for permission to publish. Sørensen publishes with permission by
the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). Embry publishes
with permission by the Geological Survey of Canada. We all thank our host insti-
tutions for their support of this work.
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Map. The Arctic Ocean and surrounding land masses.