About This Item

Share This Item

The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Bulletin

Abstract


Volume: 46 (1962)

Issue: 7. (July)

First Page: 1141

Last Page: 1192

Title: Petroleum Exploration and Production in Europe in 1961

Author(s): Robert E. King (2)

Abstract:

Petroleum production in Western Europe increased nearly 9% over the previous year, to a rate of 312,150 b/d. As in 1960, the greatest rate of increase, 42%, was that of Yugoslavia, where fields found during the past 3 years were successfully developed. German production gained 12.2% to 121,000 b/d and there were lesser increases in France, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Exploratory activity decreased in the producing countries, chiefly as a result of increasing diversion of exploration risk capital to other continents. In Austria production of oil continued to decline, but natural gas increased. Three oil discoveries were made in France, the only one of significance being Chuelles in the Paris basin. In Germany a record production depth for the country was made t 11,350 ft. in the Molasse basin southeast of Munich. Besides this only one oil and one gas discovery were made in West Germany. The trend toward deep exploratory drilling, to Triassic, Permian, and older rocks, primarily for gas, continued, but only 5 of these wells were completed in 1961. Two gas wells were completed in a new deep pay, the Upper Carboniferous, in the Rehden field. Oil was found in the Middle Jurassic below the Tertiary producing zone of the Monchsrot field of the western Molasse basin. In Italy, despite a continued high level of activity in the Po valley, results of exploratory drilling were discouraging, with only 3 rather unimportant gas fields being found. One of these was a second discovery in the Adriatic, 18 km. offshore. Two small gas discoveries were made in p ninsular Italy. A number of deep exploratory dry holes drilled in the peninsula tested the Mesozoic formations. In northeastern Sicily the Gagliano gas field was successfully developed and 2 outpost wells were completed. In The Netherlands the first well ever drilled in the North Sea was dry. In the northeast Netherlands gas province 2 additional successful gas wells were completed, one being an old well recompleted in a deeper zone. A Dutch government official announced estimated gas reserves in the northeast at 5.25 trillion cu. ft. An oil discovery was made in the United Kingdom, but most of the effort there was devoted to development of fields found in recent years. Exploratory drilling continued without success in Spain, European Turkey, Switzerland, and Greece. In the U.S.S.R. emph sis on gas exploration and development continued, as well as on the drilling of wells to around 16,500 ft. in the Baku region. A second oil discovery was made in western Siberia. A significant oil discovery was made in Poland; and in East Germany, after years of unsuccessful search, oil was found on the Baltic coast and gas southeast of Berlin.

Pay-Per-View Purchase Options

The article is available through a document delivery service. Explain these Purchase Options.

Watermarked PDF Document: $14
Open PDF Document: $24

AAPG Member?

Please login with your Member username and password.

Members of AAPG receive access to the full AAPG Bulletin Archives as part of their membership. For more information, contact the AAPG Membership Department at [email protected].