Abstract: Basins and New Frontiers

By

Michel T. Halbouty

Petroleum exploration in the coming decades must be concentrated toward discovering commercial supplies- large and small - of the oil and gas which lie untapped in both the known petroleum producing areas of the world and in the frontier regions. These frontier areas - the deserts, ice covered lands, deep waters, and remote continental interiors - are estimated to hold vast hydrocarbon accumulations. It is in these sectors where future oil and gas discoveries could make the difference between energy survival and global catastrophe.

Explorationists must reevaluate the mature and developing petroleum regions of the world; the vast ocean areas must be carefully and thoroughly investigated to ascertain their petroleum potential; the remote continental interiors must be properly assessed; and new and better uses of geology, geophysics, petroleum engineering, and technology must be employed in all aspects of petroleum exploration, development, and production. A unified exploration effort will result in greater success in finding the oil and gas supplies the world so vitally needs. But accomplishing these tremendous tasks requires first an in-depth knowledge of the characteristics of basin areas and frontier regions. A description of various basin types and where the frontier potential exists will be illustrated with slides.

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