Mesozoic resource potential in the Southern Permian Basin area: the geological key to exploiting remaining hydrocarbons whilst unlocking geothermal potential

It is generally accepted that hydrocarbon exploration in northern Europe has reached a mature stage. A basin’s maturity is defined by the underlying number of new discoveries and the declining production rate of mature fields (SPE 2015). For geoscientists, a mature basin has well-defined characteristics in terms of, for example, reservoir presence or trap formation (e.g. Byrne 2012). It is interesting, therefore, to note how much is still unknown about certain stratigraphic intervals in northern Europe. The Mesozoic overburden of the Southern Permian Basin (sensu Maystrenko et al. 2008; Doornenbal & Stevenson 2010) continues to provide fresh insights into the geological history of an area where, as the name suggests, historical hydrocarbon exploration has focused on the Paleozoic. The aim of this Special Publication is to increase knowledge of the Mesozoic overburden as a driver for further hydrocarbon exploration/production and the development of new geothermal energy sources. The succeeding chapters are introduced by tectonic framework overviews that give a context for the papers that follow. The remaining articles are organized in approximate stratigraphic order, from old to young, and include a variety of examples from semi-regional to localized field or sub-basin studies. An overview of the study area for all the following chapters is given in Figure 1. It is recognized that the overprinting Mesozoic systems have different naming conventions across the study area (e.g. the Central European Basin System sensu Littke et al. 2008; Maystrenko et al. 2008). Here we use the title ‘Southern Permian Basin area’ to emphasize the resource opportunities associated with a region that has, at least in large part, been associated with hydrocarbon exploration, and very large gas fields, in the Permian Rotliegend. For our purposes, this includes part of the Polish Trough, the highs surrounding the basin (e.g. the Ringkobing-Fyn High), and analogous elements of the Danish and Norwegian offshore. In this introduction, an overview of the geological history and resource base of the area is presented as a framework for the chapters that follow. A description of further prospective resources is then offered (oil and gas plus geothermal potential).