Preservation and Destruction of Accumulations in Petroleum Systems of Western Margin of East European Craton

Abstract The offshore segments of the Pre-Dobrogea foredeep is absolutely unexplored, there is no a single well penetrated Paleozoic units within offshore areas. This study, a deep dive into petroleum system evolution of similar foredeep basin based on a 3D basin modeling was performed in order to get understanding of petroleum systems and geology of offshore segment of Pre-Dobrogea. Western edge of East European craton is about 1450 km takes from Western Black sea shore to Southern shore of Baltic sea. This area within Ukraine includes Pre-Dobrogea foredeep basin, Pre-Carpathian foredeep basin (Bylche-Volytsa foredeep), Lviv Paleozoic basin and extensive Paleozoic margin called Volyno-Podillia area (Figure 1). All mentioned basins have similar sedimentary history, similar dynamics of tectonic evolution, proven petroleum systems of almost the same age, discovered commercial and sub-commercial accumulations and are heavily underexplored and undervalued. 3D basin modeling as a primary exploration technique was applied to mentioned basins in order to identify common features in tectonic development, in sedimentation and evolution of petroleum systems. Identified basins’ similar features now could be extrapolated to underexplored formations and areas within the study area. Figure 1 Western margin of East European Craton with marked areas of study (edited after Mikołajczak, 2016)