Workshop 8

Description

For a sustainable future, replacing crude oil and natural gas as the dominant elements in the global energy supply with lower carbon footprint sources is a major challenge on its own. It is even more so in Europe given the energy supply security issues highlighted recently due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

To work towards a future energy mix which could meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, the increasing energy demand will dictate the exploration and production of low carbon intensity and cost efficient “advantaged” hydrocarbons.

A good example of an advantaged hydrocarbon is biogenic gas which can be found in large quantities in offshore regions around Europe, such as in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

In addition, thermogenic gas may be found at greater depth in established hydrocarbon basins where the risk and cost of considering these targets prevented exploration to date. There are several basins in Europe which still have plays which have not been fully explored. Last exploration frontiers also include thrust-fold belts and volcanic basins in the broader European region with considerable gas potential.

Since hydrocarbons cannot be entirely replaced by greener geo-energy solutions in the next few decades, a deliberate effort is needed to focus the carbon capture and storage capacity that will be needed to mitigate the consequences of the ongoing, but slowly decreasing reliance on fossil fuels. Given the increasing focus on low-carbon geo-energy solutions, the European region needs a modern re-evaluation of the subsurface geo-energy potential not related to hydrocarbons. For example, the willingness to interpret a collage of “old” 2D seismic reflection data could provide critical new insights in many other underexplored basin segments globally in the context of the energy transition. Oil and gas companies, given their unique subsurface legacy data sets, will play a key role in the re-assessment of “forgotten” basin segments worldwide.

This workshop is intended to capture the latest ideas about the last exploration frontiers in Europe discussing various case studies, including new plays and underexplored basin segments considered and/or innovative technologies involved.

Participant Profile

Geo-energy company geoscientists engaged in green energy solutions
Academic researchers
Low-carbon business developers
Governmental regulatory and legislative experts

Workshop Programme