OIL AND GAS OF THE GREATER CASPIAN AREA - Front Matter

Edited by Pinar O. Yilmaz and Gary H. Isaksen

AAPG Studies in Geology 55

Published by

The American Association of Petroleum Geologists

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Copyright ©2007

By the American Association of Petroleum Geologists

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-0-89181-062-9

Foreword

AAPG Regional Conference was held in Istanbul, Turkey, July 9–12, 2000. The proceedings in this publication are a combination of papers and extended abstracts, and are intended as learnings from the technical program and plenary sessions to be shared by the earth geoscientists involved in the region. We hope these proceedings will enhance your understanding of this fascinating oil and gas region and serve as a launching point for new ideas and concepts as we take on other phases of exploration, development, and production.
We live in a time where volatility of the oil and gas markets are on the minds of many consumers as well as local and world leaders. Geopolitical uncertainties in oil producing regions such as the Middle East, Africa, and South America, as well as rapidly increasing energy demands from China and India, serve to increase the price of this precious commodity. These are times when geoscientists are faced with a serious and tremendously important challenge—the need to find more oil and gas to meet the world’s growing energy demand and, with increasingly advanced technology, explore the utility of new energy sources. We also have the responsibility to help nations develop their resources wisely. We can accomplish many of these goals through a thorough understanding of both known and frontier hydrocarbon-bearing sedimentary basins.
The greater Caspian area has maintained its position as one of the major petroleum provinces in the world. Its early history as a prolific producer of oil is well known. Caspian region exploration dates to the seventh century B.C., during the time of the Median Kingdom in today’s southern Azerbaijan. The Median province that bordered Assyria became the first place to extract oil from shallow wells. Oil played an important role in the everyday lives of these ancient tribes of the region, and it is still a very important commodity today.
The past two decades have seen many important advances in our knowledge of the geological evolution of hydrocarbon- bearing sedimentary basins. The success of modern exploration is, to a large extent, based on new advances in both deep— and 3-D—seismic imaging, as well as improved pressure-prediction and pre-drill oil and gas quality predictive methodolo- gies, to mention just a few. Nevertheless, large areas of the greater Caspian region have remained unexplored due to a variety of factors such as deep-water conditions and zones with high pore-pressures in the South Caspian Sea and The Black Sea, and vast shallow-water regions with harsh winter ice conditions in the North Caspian Sea. New leads and prospects in this region are in remote locations or in challenging environments. As geoscientists and engineers we are faced with finding and developing these resources and bringing them to market at a competitive cost and in an environmentally sound manner. This requires new ideas and new technologies. It is only through an in-depth understanding of the hydrocarbon systems in the region that we can undertake further exploration, development and production.
These proceedings are organized along the geographic region and themes. In the early 1990s, the new realities of a world without walls plunged economic earth scientists into a complex and challenging environment of global exploration and discovery (Green). New and improved technological tools are being developed that enabled the industry to significantly reduce costs and develop resources (Thakur). The greater Caspian region attracted a long history of investors. However, a very significant uncertainty in the amount of proven and potential reserves presents a challenge (Belopolsky and Talwani). Outcrop based studies of potential reservoirs and source rock intervals help constrain the uncertainty over the future potential of the region and can help reduce risk and increase exploration success rates (Simmons).
Regional tectonics and evolution of the Greater Caspian region requires sorting out structural connections where four major orogenic systems meet (Sengor and Natalin). The opening of the Black Sea and its relation to the Caspian Sea are addressed in the article by Okay and Gorur. The geodynamic evolution of the South Caspian Sea in the Tertiary is illustrated by 16-time interval maps of reservoir, source, and seal intervals (Golonka). Tectonic evolution of the South Caspian is modeled from gravity data indicating the extent of continental crust beneath the thick Tertiary sediments (Granath et al.). Deep seismic reflection profiles across the South Caspian basin provide further evidence of the extent of the continental crust below the sea (Knapp et al.).
The South Caspian Basin source rocks are analyzed from the ejecta of the mud volcanoes that cover the landscape in the region (Isaksen et al.). These analyses can aid in reconstruction of paleodepositional environments and paleogeography, and help locate high-grade oil and gas exploration targets. An understanding of the stratigraphy of reservoir rocks and seals could reduce exploration risk (Abreu and Nummedal, Hinds et al.). A large Pliocene westward-prograding deltaic sys- tem from the east deposited a thick section of sediments, which are exploration targets in Turkmenistan (Torres) whereas Jurassic carbonates are host to significant gas and condensate reserves in eastern Turkmenistan (Isaksen and Khalylov). The North Caspian basin is characterized by thick carbonate sections influenced by salt deformation resulting in poor seis- mic resolution (Brunet et al., Ulmishek, Cook et al., and Warner et al.).

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we would like to express our sincere thanks to all earth scientists who contributed presentations, posters, manuscripts, and extended abstracts. You were all instrumental in the success of the conference and the valuable knowledge captured by this volume. We also thank the staff at the AAPG and the AAPG Foundation for the help they provided in making this volume of the conference possible. Michelle Mayfield Gentzen was of great help organizing the logistics of the conference on behalf of the AAPG Convention Department. The editors owe a great appreciation to Miss Heather Paul and Mr. Napoleon Afuang who patiently redrafted a lot of the figures, compliments of Gulf PetroLink of Bahrain.

This volume reflects not only the efforts of the authors, but also the helpful suggestions and constructive comments provided by the technical reviewers and conference technical program committee members, including Nahum Schneiderman, Joe Newhart, Yucel Yilmaz, Sami Derman, Akif Narimanov, and Mike Gaskins. The editors would also like to thank ExxonMobil Exploration Company for sponsoring this publication.

Sincerely,

Pinar O. Yilmaz and Gary H. Isaksen