English Channel Regional Geological Maps for Hydrocarbon Exploration

The English Channel area of the UK Continental Shelf is covered by a set of regional geological maps produced by the North Sea Transition Authority and Lloyd's Register. The maps represent the fifth set of deliverables from a three-year contract and include products like depth structure, isochore, and hydrocarbon occurrence maps for main geological intervals. All released data is public domain, though the project benefited from additional third-party data sources.

Use Cases

• Model subsurface reservoir distribution based on reservoir distribution maps.
• Analyze structural geology and fault patterns based on structural elements maps.
• Assess hydrocarbon source rock potential based on source rock maps.
• Map sediment depositional environments based on depositional facies maps.
• Plan well placement and evaluate drilling risks based on well penetration maps.

Strengths

• Maps are produced for main geological time intervals, including Paleocene, Lower Cretaceous, and Upper Jurassic.
• The project benefited from multiple third-party data sources, including seismic interpretation and the 21CXRM Palaeozoic project.
• Includes nine distinct map product types, such as depth structure, isochore, and hydrocarbon occurrence maps.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

North Sea Transition Authority and Lloyd's Register

Collection Method

Interpretation of seismic and well data, informed by third-party sources including Heriot-Watt University and CGG.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-18 11:13:10.770961; freshness should be verified.

Geography

English Channel area of the UK Continental Shelf