Evaluation of hydrocarbon potential of the autochthonous Miocene strata in the NW part of the Ukrainian Carpathian Foredeep

Abstract

The quantity, genetic type, maturity and hydrocarbon potential of dispersed organic matter were determined for the complete sequence of the autochthonous Miocene ranging from the Lower Badenian Sandy-Calcareous Series to the Lower Sarmatian Upper Dashava Formation of the Bilche-Volytsia Unit. Geochemical analyses were conducted on 78 core samples collected from 11 wells in the Ukrainian Carpathian Foredeep between the Ukrainian-Polish state border and the Stryi River. The most favourable source-rock parameters characterize the Upper Badenian Kosiv Formation where the highest TOC contents, from 0.44 to 2.01 wt% (median 0.76 wt%), were found. Only slightly lower values were obtained for the Lower and the Upper Dashava formations – from 0.01 to 1.45 wt% (median 0.72 wt%) and from 0.62 to 0.77 wt% (median 0.71 wt%), respectively. In the Lower Badenian Sandy-Calcareous Series, the Lower Badenian Baraniv beds, and the Upper Badenian Tyras Formation, the TOC content is lower and varies from 0.00 to 0.77 wt%. Immature type III (terrestrial) kerogen dominates the analysed sections of the Kosiv and Dashava formations. Marine organic matter was detected sporadically, and only in the Upper Badenian Kosiv Formation in the vicinity of Kokhanivka, and in the Upper Badenian Kosiv and Tyras formations.