Hydrocarbon Play Maps in the Danish Central Graben

Note: New version fixing 4 broken links has been uploaded 26-07-2024

Between 1993 and 2017, Denmark was one of the largest oil exporting countries in Europe having gained this position from its share in the highly prolific Danish Central Graben whereas the area outside the Central Graben has a little and highly uncertain resource. Here, 12 play maps for the Danish Central Graben ranging from the well-established Upper Cretaceous chalk play to the unproved plays within the Farsund Formation and the newly established Heno and Neogene plays are presented as originally described by Andersen et al. (2015). For each play the resource is estimated based on an evaluation of 21 discoveries and 72 prospects and leads. Within the discovery portfolio it is estimate that an addition resource of 246 million m³oe is present within the Danish Central Graben and an additional 190 million m³oe (risked) resource is present within the yet-to-find category. For most plays the main petroleum source rocks is the Upper Jurassic – lowermost Cretaceous Farsund Formation. The Middle Jurassic coaly units of the Bryne and Lulu Formations constitute a secondary source, whereas unknown contribution may come from other source rocks including the Upper Jurassic Lola Formation, the Lower Jurassic Fjerritslev Formation, Permian shales and Carboniferous coals.