BGS Palaeozoic Project: UK Continental Shelf Petroleum Potential

A multidisciplinary study by the BGS petroleum geoscience team, created for the 21st Century Exploration Roadmap (21CXRM) and published in March 2017. The project evaluated overlooked petroleum potential in Carboniferous and Devonian systems on the UK Continental Shelf, incorporating onshore data. Results include seismic, well, and gravity interpretations, burial/uplift/maturity modelling, source rock geochemistry, and palaeographic reconstructions.

Use Cases

• Model petroleum system maturity based on burial/uplift/maturity modelling data.
• Identify prospective hydrocarbon plays using seismic and well interpretations.
• Reconstruct palaeogeography for the Carboniferous and Devonian periods.
• Assess source rock potential through geochemistry studies.

Strengths

• Project involved collaboration with over 45 oil companies and the UK North Sea Transition Authority.
• Results are peer-reviewed project outputs published under the Open Government License.
• Multidisciplinary study incorporates seismic, well, gravity, geochemistry, and modelling data.

Limitations

• Outputs are at a regional scale and created for project-specific purposes, limiting granular application.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

British Geological Survey (BGS) petroleum geoscience team, in collaboration with the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), Oil and Gas UK, and a consortium of over 45 oil companies.

Collection Method

Multidisciplinary studies including seismic, well, and gravity interpretation, modelling, geochemistry, and palaeographic reconstruction.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-18 11:13:28.388352; freshness should be verified.

Geography

UK Continental Shelf, focusing on the Mid North Sea High, Orcadian Basin/East Shetland Platform, and the wider Irish Sea area.