GESGB London Evening Lecture – April 2024 (Online)

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Speaker: Philip Copestake – Merlin Energy Resources

Topic: An Updated Sequence Stratigraphy for the Jurassic of the North Sea Region – Impact on the Maximisation of the Remaining Hydrocarbon Potential and the Energy Transition

This event will be hosted online via Zoom. Login details will be sent to registered members 24 hours prior to the event. 

An Updated Sequence Stratigraphy for the Jurassic of the North Sea Region – Impact on the Maximisation of the Remaining Hydrocarbon Potential and the Energy Transition

Sequence stratigraphy has become a powerful tool in the basin analysis of the North Sea Basin, and will continue to be important in the maximization of the remaining hydrocarbon resources of Jurassic reservoirs in the region, whilst also moving through the energy transition.

The talk will present a revised sequence stratigraphy scheme for the Jurassic–lowermost Cretaceous of the region, that was published in 2023 (Copestake & Partington, 2023).  The scheme, which is an update of an early scheme published in the early 1990s (Partington et al., 1993a, 1993b) recognizes 39 stratigraphic sequences (‘J sequences’), defined in wells and on seismic data.  Many of the sequences defined in the offshore areas can also be recognized onshore.

The talk will discuss the utilisation of the new sequence stratigraphy scheme in improving regional correlation, enhancing seismic interpretation, more accurately defining lithostratigraphic units, defining reservoir zonations and evaluating stratigraphic traps, all of which are essential requirements for the maximisation of the remaining hydrocarbon potential of the region.  The potential application of the scheme in Carbon Capture and Storage projects will also be considered.

References;

Partington, M.A., Copestake, P., Mitchener, B.C. and Underhill, J.R. 1993a. Biostratigraphic calibration of genetic stratigraphic sequences in the Jurassic-lowermost Cretaceous (Hettangian to Ryazanian) of the North Sea and adjacent areas. Geological Society, London, Petroleum Geology Conference Series, 4, 371–386.

Partington, M.A., Mitchener, B.C, Milton, N.J. and Fraser, A.J. 1993b. Genetic sequence stratigraphy for the North Sea Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous: distribution and prediction of Kimmeridgian-late Ryazanian reservoirs in the North Sea and adjacent areas. Geological Society, London, Petroleum Geology Conference Series, 4, 347–370.

Copestake, P. and Partington, M. A. 2023. Sequence Stratigraphy of the Jurassic–Lowermost Cretaceous (Hettangian–Berriasian) of the North Sea Region. Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 59.

Philip Copestake – Merlin Energy Resources

Philip graduated from the University of Nottingham in 1973, following which he completed a PhD on the Lower Jurassic foraminifera of the Mochras Borehole, Wales, in 1978.  He then worked for Robertson Research as a micropalaeontologist before joining the British National Oil Corporation (BNOC, later to become Britoil), in Glasgow, in 1981, as a stratigrapher. Following the acquisition of the company by BP in 1988, he became a member of the North Sea regional Jurassic sequence stratigraphic team, with Mark Partington, where ideas and concepts on sequence stratigraphy, that led to the definition of a set of Jurassic sequences, were developed.

He joined Integrated Exploration and Development Services (IEDS, later to become part of IHS Energy), based in Gloucestershire, UK in 1990, where, among many other projects, he was involved in several successful speculative studies applying sequence stratigraphy on a regional scale to the Jurassic of the North Sea Basin.

He joined Merlin Energy Resources, in Ledbury, UK in 2004, following which he carried out many petroleum geological and stratigraphic studies of several petroleum provinces in Europe, Africa and South America. Since joining Merlin, he has been fortunate to carry out multiple stratigraphic studies, at regional and block-specific scales, for a range of North Sea companies, covering offshore UK, Norway and Denmark. These studies have furthered the development of understanding of Jurassic sequence stratigraphy, and much of this recent learning has been included in the updated 2023 sequence scheme.