Petroleum Provinces in Poland

Abstract

A b s t r a c t. The scheme in which the Carpathians, Carpathian Foredeep and Polish Lowland are distinguished as the hydrocarbon prospective zones was used hitherto in Poland. Good geological diagnosis of Poland area enables to distinguish the petroleum provinces in terms of basin analysis (methodology). This procedure are based on an integration of multidisciplinary geological and geophysical data with into a petroleum play concept. Results of drillings and petroleum play procedures allow to predict boundaries of petroleum provinces. Effects of basin analysis with regards to the stratigraphy of hydrocarbon-bearing areas are presented in Figure 1. All these prospective areas (Fig. 1) have been matched into five independent units (Fig. 2) which could be defined as following petroleum provinces: Pomerania, Wielkopolska, Małopolska, Lublin and Gdańsk. These petroleum provinces are only the parts of sedimentary basins the individual development of which enabled generation, migration and preservation of hydrocarbons. Location of the above mentioned petroleum provinces is also brightly reflected on the map of crustal consolidation (Fig. 3): every province in Poland has its own individual geologic history.