Prediction and Risking of Jurassic Source Rocks, Offshore Nova Scotia

Lower Jurassic source rock horizons identified across the North Atlantic, together with the more widely recognised Tithonian source that has charged the gas and condensate discoveries found on the Scotian Shelf, has led to considerable supposition on the occurrence of more oil-prone lower Jurassic source rocks contributing to hydrocarbons in the Scotian Basin. In the absence of direct evidence for Lower Jurassic Source Rock along the Scotian margin, it has been necessary to turn to alternative approaches to assess this potential. In late 2020, Getech began a study to predict the distribution of Tithonian and early Jurassic source rocks offshore Nova Scotia based on biogeographic principles derived from modern environments, as well as palaeoenvironmental interpretations derived from palaeogeographic mapping and Getech’s proprietary organic facies prediction (OFP) modelling. To ground-truth the model predictions against true data values, the wider region of the European Tethys was initially used to predict (pre-maturation) Total Organic Carbon (TOC) content and Hydrogen Index (HI) of sediments deposited. Subsequent higher resolution modelling was undertaken for the Hispanic Corridor. The resulting maps provide a spatial understanding of both the how and where favourable conditions existed for source rock development at the time of deposition. The project team included Abigail Redmile, Kerri Wilson & Richard Tyson.