Review by Andrew Rodda, DrillingInfo

In the cold mid-October on the NE coast, geologists from far and wide (Aberdeen and London mostly) arrived at the Yorkshire town of Whitby to look at Mid North Sea High analogues of the soon to close (26 October 2016) 29th Licensing Round. The trip was led by Durham University’s Professor Jon Gluyas, Dr Jonny Imber & Professor Andy Aplin; throughout the whole weekend their knowledge proved invaluable and ignited some great discussions. On behalf of everyone who attended the event, we would like to say a very big thank you to them for providing such an insightful and enjoyable weekend.

The surprising dry and somewhat sunny day started with looking at the potential source rock in the Mid North Sea High. The Early Jurassic Cleveland Basin, Upper Lias Whitby Mudstone Formation was a 105m thick, dark-grey section abundant in shelly fossils. As fresh surfaces from the cliff face were investigated, the striking, unmistakable smell of hydrocarbons was released in to the air. The formation was deposited in poorly oxygenated bottom waters, which have resulted in TOCs of up to 18%. Some caverns have been dug out of the cliff in search of the precious gemstone ‘jet’ derived from decaying wood, sold in the local gem shops.

Next, we climbed 320m up Roseberry Topping in the North Yorkshire Moors. The peak represents a resistant cap of Middle Jurassic Saltwick Formation sandstone, which lies unconformably above the Whitby Formation. As an aside to the licensing round, the faulting in the area was discussed in relation to the prospect of shale fracking, and the day was nicely rounded off with fish and chips.

Sunday saw the rain and winds close in, which the Aberdeen residents are all too familiar with. The cyclic limestones and dolomites of the Permian Zechstein Basin, which have been proven as producing oil and gas reservoirs across offshore Netherlands and into continental Europe were assessed. The Quarrington Old Quarry was also viewed from a distance to observe the Yellow Sandstone-Raisby Formations which gave us a chance to consider them as a potential reservoir rock in the Mid North Sea High. Some geologists amongst us had also done some work on the released OGA funded seismic data available on the Mid North Sea High, and were enthused by the prospect of exploring these potential reservoirs.

The final stop of the trip was Seaham Harbour, which is cut into the Permian Zechstein Seaham Formation, giving an example of the boundaries and structural features in the Zechstein Basin. At this point, the tide was ferociously crashing against the shoreline and we parted our separate ways.