Giant discoveries of oil and gas fields in global deepwaters in the past 40 years and the prospect of exploration

Abstract

Deepwater exploration has been developed for more than 40 years since 1975; generally, its exploration history can be divided into the beginning stage (1975–1984), the early stage (1985–1995) and the rapid development stage (1996-now). Currently, deepwater areas have become the hotspot of global oil and gas exploration, and they are also one of the most important fields of oil and gas increase in reserves and production all over the world. In 40 years, global deepwater oil and gas discoveries are mainly distributed along five deepwater basin groups which are characterized by “three vertical and two horizontal” groups: (1) In deepwater basins of the Atlantic Ocean, giant discoveries of oil are mainly concentrated in Brazil, West Africa and the Gulf of Mexico, and significant discoveries of natural gas are mainly on the west coast of Norway in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean; (2) In deepwater basins of the East African continental margin, a group of giant gas fields has been found in the Rovuma Basin and Tanzania Basin; (3) In deepwater basins of the West Pacific Ocean, giant discoveries of oil and gas are mainly concentrated in the South China Sea and Southeast Asian waters; (4) The deepwater basins of the Neo-Tethys Region are rich in gas, and the most important gas discoveries are mainly distributed in the northwest shelf of Australia and the eastern Mediterranean; and (5) In deepwater basins around the Arctic Pole, major discoveries of oil and gas have been only found in deepwater areas of the Barents sea. Global deepwater oil resources are mainly concentrated in the middle and south sections of the Atlantic Ocean. Deepwater gas resources are relatively widely spread and mainly distributed in the northern part of Atlantic Ocean deepwater basins, the deepwater basins of East Africa, the deepwater basins of the Neo-Tethys region and the deepwater basins around the Arctic Pole. There will be six domains for future oil-gas exploration of global deepwater basins which are characterized by “two old and four new” domains; specifically, “two old” domains referring to the Atlantic offshore deepwater basins and offshore deepwater basins of the Neo-Tethys structural domain, where the exploration degree is relatively high, and the potential is still great. While the “four new” domains stand for pre-salt and ultra deepwater basin formations, offshore deepwater basins surrounding the North Pole area and West Pacific offshore deepwater basins and the new fields will be the main fields of deepwater oil and gas exploration in the future. Keywords: Deepwater, Giant discoveries of oil and gas, Brazil, West Africa, Gulf of Mexico, East Africa, Northwest shelf of Australia, Eastern mediterranean, New field