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AAPG Bulletin

Abstract


Volume: 49 (1965)

Issue: 8. (August)

First Page: 1176

Last Page: 1231

Title: Petroleum Exploration and Production in Europe in 1964

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

Abstract:

Petroleum production in western Europe increased 7.2% over 1963, to a rate of 384,420 b/d. German oil production increased 3.9% to a rate of 149,200 b/d and gas production rose 52% to a rate of 190 million CFD. There was a 45% increase in Italian oil production as a result of putting the Gela low-gravity oil field on full production for the first time. Oil production increased by a small percentage in other west European countries. Oil was found for the first time in Spain with the discovery of the Ayoluengo field in the northern part of the country. Further drilling is required to evaluate its importance. In Austria there were 3 oil discoveries, and a new depth record for the country of 16,053 ft. was established. In France, 2 minor discoveries, one each of gas and oil, ere made. A large exploration permit was granted in the Bay of Biscay. In Germany exploratory drilling was directed primarily toward the finding of gas in Lower Triassic to Upper Carboniferous reservoirs in the Northwest German basin. Two significant new-field discoveries were made in the Lower Triassic near Bremen and there were important new-field and new-pool finds in the Triassic and Upper Carboniferous of the Emsland. In Italy 2 small gas discoveries were made in the Po Valley and 5 in the southeastern part of the peninsula. A test projected to the basal Mesozoic near the Adriatic coast was drilled to 19,392 ft. without reaching its objective. There was intense competitive drilling activity in The Netherlands, particularly in the provinces of Friesland and Noord Holland. Of 23 explo atory wells drilled, 5 were completed as shut-in gas discoveries and gas had been found in 2 additional wells that were deepening at the end of the year. The first possibly commercial hydrocarbon production in Switzerland was found by a well 40 km. northeast of Berne which tested wet gas in Tertiary sandstones. In the United Kingdom a small oil discovery was completed in the Jurassic in Dorset near the south coast, and another field was found in Carboniferous sediments in the Midlands. In Yugoslavia an important oil discovery was made in the Drava Valley. The United Kingdom opened its portion of the North Sea to filing for hydrocarbon rights, and 348 blocks of 77-100 sq. mi.were awarded to 23 applicants, mostly comprising groups of companies. The greatest interest was in the area between 53° and 55° N. Lat., where a deep Permian salt basin is believed to be present. Seismic exploration by various companies continued in the North Sea. The first drilling far from the coast commenced in 1964, with 3 wells in German waters and one in a U.K. block on the Dogger Banks near the center of the sea. One of the German wells found nitrogen gas under high pressure and was abandoned. In the Soviet Union oil and gas production continued to increase. The COMECON oil pipe-line to the satellite nations on the west was completed, as was the Trans-Siberian oil pipe-line as far as the Anagarsk refinery. The first oil discovery in Byelorussia was made in the Devonian. There were 2 further discoveries on the Mangyshlak Peninsula, and a gas find in the Cheleken area, both on the easte n coast of the Caspian Sea. Work evidently continued on the deep test at Aral Sor north of the Caspian Sea, with a depth of 19,800 ft. reported. In East Germany, commercial production began in fields in Pomerania, and a new discovery was reported in the area.

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