GASEOUS REGIME OF THE BLACK SEA Vasyl l

V.l.Sozansky- Gaseousregimeof theBlackSea
fficials
basic
it is
lrs as
/e not
when
levels
. The
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time
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€an
GASEOUS
REGIMEOF THEBLACKSEA
Vasyll.Soznrusxv
Departmentof MarineGeologyand SedimentaryOre Formationof the NationalAcademyof Sciencesof Ukraine,Kiev, Ukraine
Abstract.Spatialdistribulion
of gas showsin the BlackSea,theirrelationto deepfaultsand mud volcanoestestifiesto deep
inorganic
originof gas in this region.Searchfor oil and gas in the BlackSea shouldbe concentrated
in the first placeon the
structurescomplicated
with mud volcanoes.
The zoneswheregas emissionswere found belongto very prospective
areas.
Accumulations
of gas hydrates
in bottomsediments
aredeveloped
wherethedepthof seawater
exceeds550-600m.
gashydrate,
Keywords: gaseousregime,methane,
BlackSea,Ukraine
Oil and gas bearingof the BlackSea and the Krymske field where only one pool was
Sea of Azov is still studied insufficiently.encountered.Reservoirsare sandstonesand
Exploratory
drillingon the BlackSea continental argillitesin the Maikop formation.Terrigencus
shelfon the Golitsinska
structurehas beenstarted carbonate reservoirs are productive on the
and Odeskefieldsand are confined
in 1971,and the first wildcatin the Sea of Azov Arkhangelske
to the Lower Sarmatian-Tortonian (the
was spudedin 1975in the Pivnichno-Kerchenska
area)and to the UpperEocene(the
area.Exploratory
drillingyieldedverygoodresults. Arkhangelska
gaswas struckin boththe Golitsinska Odeska area) (Table 1). The Golitsynske,
Commercial
Arkhangelske
and Strilkovefieldsare
and the Pivnichno-Kerchenska
structures.Now '10 Shtormove,
present.
exploited
at
gas and gas-condensate
fieldsare discovered
in
thisregion(Figs.1,
2) (inShpak,19BO).
Development
of oil and gas industryin Ukraine
was suspendedin the latesixties.At that time the
SovietUnionpursueda courseof developing
of
nuclearindustry.Mass mediacarriedout a wide
campaign
againstoil and gas industrystatingthat
within20worldoil recourses
wouldbe exhausted
50 years.So,to avoidan energeticcrisisthe only
possibleway was construction
a wide networkof
nuclearpower stations.Financingof geological
for oil and gas in Ukrainewas sharply
exploration
reduced.
In resultoutputof oilandgasdisastrously
dropped. To prevent a breakdownof oil/gas
industryUkrainiangeologistsbegan exploration
gas
drillingin the BlackSea.ThegreatGolitsynske
fielddiscovered
by only one wildcatin the Black
Fig. 1 Gas fields in the Blackand Azov Seas area
Sea testifies that Ukrainian geologists have
detectedthe richestoil-bearingprovincethat is
more profitablethan the North and the Caspian
partof the BlackSeaatl fields Seas.Ukraineis ableto regainits reputation
In the Ukrainian
of the
are situatedin the north-westernpartof the shelf. oil state what, however,has been contradicting
Depth of waters where drillingwas carried out interestsof Russia.In orderto stopdevelopment
of
makesup from 30 m up to 90 m. The fieldsare oil industry in Ukraine in 1978 the Soviet
confinedto anticlinestructures.
On the wholethe government
transferred
the jurisdictionover the
fieldsare gaseous,and seldomgas-condensate.BlackSea from the Ukrainiangeologicalsurveyto
Condensate
was discoveredon the Colitsynske, the Ministry of Gas Industry of the USSR
Shmidtivskeand Stormove fields. On the (Gasprom,Moscow).Gaspromcarried out only
Shmidtovske
fieldgas consistsof methaneand its limitedexploration
for oil and gas in the BlackSea
homologueswith a small admixtureof carbon concentrating
prospectingworks on the Western
dioxide(not morethan 5,5%).Hydrogensulphide Siberiawheregiantgas fieldswere discovered.tn
is notpresenthere.Paybedsoccurin thedepthof result oil/gas industryof Ukraine was finally
480 m in the Golitsynska
structure
and- up to the destroyed.
to its
Outputof oil and gas diminished
area.The minimum
depthof 3200 m on the Shmidtovska
level.
fields are multistratalwith exceptionof the
Havingitsownoil andgasindustryin decay
ga6cond6ngate
caa,
fleldir
l.
Colltaynuli€,
Plvdenno-colltaynslts,
2.
{.
Ar)ihangelaliogo,
5.Ode6l.e,
6,Shtorhovg,
l:ove,
9. Horalie,
I 0. Plvn lchao-t(orchenalie,
-*
Gda plpelln€ar
ln Oporatlotr,
e:
under
3.Shnldtovsk€,
?,Cryistte,
8.Strl1-
Con8tructlon
GEA-ECO.MARINA,
3/1998
Nationallnstituteof MarineGeologyand Geo-ecology
of Romania
Proc.lntern.Workshopon "Continental
Marginsand SeaLevelChanges"
in Tescani,Romania,Oct.6 -12, 1997
t5
T
5
o
f,
o'
*
Table 1 - Gas and Gas-Gondensate
Fieldsof the BlackSea and the Sea of Azov
6
o
<a
s
,:o
!r3
9ID
No.
I
+s
Name of
Gas Field
Golitsynske
Depthof
Yearof
Seawater Discovery
M
en
1974
x6
<!q
So
$ \n
€d +sx
x
z.
J.
PivdennoGolitsvnske
Shmidtovske
'ln
30
1981
1979
E6li
dpd
(/)X 5
R6 i
iQa
Po3
.i:A
4.
Arkhangelsk
1987
<o--
QoR
$x(o
Y (( D
o6
(f Q
oo
oo
Odeske
3040
1 qRR
:Ar
-.8
E'q
8R
:.5
7.
8.
Shtormove
80-90
1983
Krymske
70-80
1982
1963
Strilkove
o
R3
9.
10.
bo
o)
N
(o
(o
\
Morske
13
PivnichnoKerchenske
11
1977
1576
Depth
Range
m
480-545
555-570
590€35
2130-2550
Productive
Horizons
lndex
Aqe
PnM-il1
PnM-IV
Pg,
M-V
Pqr
II-IX
570-993
650S90
Pn^
Po"
650-7'15
M-lll
690-780
M-IV
700-780
M-V
2710-3150
II-IX
K"
2910-3200
Series1
610S30
805-845
M-lll
850-930
M-V
625-(6U
140t1670
1570-1670
1810-2000
n-1
Bn
HN
860-886
434-443
475-500
530-550
630€90
Pg.
Pg.
Pg.
Pgt
K:
Pgt
Po.
Pg,
Pgt
Pg.,
Pqr
Pq:
M-IV
M.V
M-VI
SeriesI
Seriesll
Serieslll
115G1370 SerieslV
Pg.
Pgt
Po"
Pqg
N
N
N
N
CompositionOf Gas
CHa
99.73
99.19
99.28
91.42
96.71
98.69
90.03
86.26
98.9
98.9
99.14
98.4
v/.3
98.5
85.7
98.13
.51
96.55
98.2
98.44
Crl
0.08
0.1
0.'t73
4.54
0 .1 I
0 12
5.0
4.78
CsHto
CcHr
0.05
0.04
6.49
0.17
o.o+
0.02
o.271
0.249
0.290
1.03
0.333
1.28
1.70
(bilion
)s*Hiqher
o.os
0.001
'l.54
0.7
0.685
0.005
Tr.
0.060 0.006
0.049 0.008
0 . 0 1 5 0.002
0 . 1 4 9 0.033
0.008
lr.
2.90
0.88
0.059 0.002
Tr
Ultimate
RecoverableGas
0.33
0.283
Tr
Tr
Tr
1.24
0 . 19 0
0.184
0.101
0.810
0.200
0 . 18 0
0.1-0.5
0.1-0.5
0.1-0.5
1.980
15.317
q
N
3.46
15.988
(d
\.
9.299
(D
E
;i'
0.11
0.617
0.17
0.1
4.081
u-zJ
0.29
3.70
5.179
95.54
z-uz
n {a
ncq
c)
1 91 6 3
1
u. I
\
o
0.376
0.310
0.03
C4
b
R AAN
0.226
0.081
0.069
0.343
s
o
x
g)
V.l. Sozansky - Gaseousregime of the Black Sea
. r
r
- - a F s
F--Fr4
cr6r.*!ton
t!-il
il
"10i
/
i
.,J-J
Fig. 2 Structure contourmap of the productivehorizonN-Xl (LowerPaleocene-Golitsynske
gas condensatefield)and two
cross sections.After A.Daroachova& M. Bass. 1977.
6i6sc.
nKherson
Yevpatorla
\bs?:
vaElopol.
/1;77\
WJ
.
;\t
Yud vclcanoes
area.
car i .al a
hl d
vnr ^anoes
Locatlon
of
gas flows
!giq,
a -
61.
Fig. 3 Distributionof mud volcanoesand gas flows in the
BlackSea
Ukrainewas forced to accept dominationof
nuclearpowerengineering
in its economyimposed
by the Sovietgovernment.In seventiesnuclear
power stationswere constructedall over the
country.In the shortestterms the Chornobylska,
Zaporiska, South-Ukrainian,Rivnynska and
Khmelnytska
nuclearpowerstationswere put into
The Chyhyrynska
and Krymskanuclear
operation.
powerstationswere on the final stage of their
construction.After the Chernobyl disaster
construction
of the Chyhyrynskaand Krymska
nuclearpower stationswas stopped,and they
werere-equipped
for anotherpurposes.
A question
about closingof the Chernobylnuclearpower
stationwas raised.
investigations
Geochemical
of pollutionzone
causedby explosionof the Chernobylsky
nuclear
reactorshowedthat among the productsthrown
out by the destroyedreactorcontentof plutonium
was high,andall the territoryof Ukrainewas badly
contaminatedwith this radio-activeelement.
Plutoniumpollutionconsiderablyworsens the
ecological
situationin Ukraine,as plutoniumitself
and its combinations
are highly toxic and the
periodof their decay is approx.24,5 thousands
years.So, in fact it meansthat the territoryof
for
Ukraineis contaminated
with theseradionuclei
ever.
GEO.ECO-MARI
NA,3/1998
Nationallnstituteof Maine Geologyand Geo-ecology
of Romania
Proc.lntern.Workshopon "Continental
MarginsandSeaLevelChanges"in Tescani,Romania,Oct.6 -12, 1997
t-.
- Gaseousregimeof theBlackSea
V.l. Sozansky
*4+i
Sea
tDtt6
4{40 l{88
l{
a3rzz.396E
1 0 9F 4 . 8 U
83IZ3.AZ7 E
1 3 1F { . 3 u
Fig. 4 Gas flow from the bottomof the BlackSea (loc.on Fig.3- after Shnyukovet al.. 1977)
rbpth,
m
pr
nl
(c
fr
gi
rt
fr
a
$r
;:t$:i: i :n{,ti:;*:
q:...fi+l-
44{tJt {19 il
a 3 L Z Z . 3 8 lE
0?6 F ,1.5 U
{ 4 . r 0 . . t 3 0d
a 3 7 Z Z . A 5 3E
r.z{ F 1.1 u
Fig. 5 Gas flow from the bottomof the BlackSea (loc.on Fig.3- afterShnyukovet al.. 1977)
bottomwereestablished
thatwereclearlyrecorded
of uranium
is obtainedby irradiation
Plutonium
on echogramsand were observed from the
with neutronsin nuclearreactors.lt is materialfor Georgiansea cost in the east and up to the
of Bulgarian
nuclearexplosionand it is usedfor production
cost in the west (Figs.3€).Now above
atomicbombsand nuclearwarheads.Presenceof 300 torchesof gas emissionare discoveredin the
great quantityof plutoniumamongthe products
BlackSea that may be dividedinto four isolated
reactor
thrownout by the destroyedChornobylsky
areas.Thesegas showsare constantlymanifested
testifiesthat the Chornobylskanuclearstation as powerful gas streams that are displayed
producedplutoniumside by side with electricity.
sometimeson the sea surface,and the sea "is
Thus nuclearstationsservednot onlyfor solution boiling"hereand
there.Theyare confinedbothto
of energeticproblemsof Ukraine,but in the first mud volcanoesand to faults in the earth crust
place for militarypurposes
of the USSR.
(Shnyukovet al., 1997, Shnyukov,Sozansky,
After the independenceof Ukraine was 1935). Detailed investigationsof methane
declaredthe BlackSea becamea regionwhere emissionsfromthe BlackSea bottomwerecarried
Ukrainian geologists carried out intensive out in the mouthzoneof the SupsaRiveron the
prospecting. In result of these regional coast of Georgia. Owing to the above
powerfulgas blowoutsfrom the sea investigations chemical composition and
investigations
l8
GEO-ECO-MAR|
NA,3/1998
Nationallnstituteof MarineGeologyand Geo-ecologyof Romania
MarginsandSeaLevelChanges"
in Tescani,Romania,Oct.6 -12, 1997
Proc.lntern.Workshopon "Continental
o
o
c
p
b
ir
c
v
I
t
I
I
I
I
V.l.Sozansky-Gaseousregimeofthe8/ackSea
.,.0
f,a
"0
100
I t0
Sea
bottft
->
tzo
i:0
4440
altz?..551 E
165F 2.9 U
n117.7..747r,
15fi Ir 2.'l U
Fig.6 Gasflowfromthe bottomof theBlackSea(loc.on Fig.3- afterShnyukov
et al., 1977)
ld
1e
le
/e
te
rd
rd
d
S
'+
}L
)
I
l
I
production
ratewere studied.Gas is presentedby
Thus,all the availabledataallowsto statethat
methane(94,70/'1,ethane (4,7o/oland propane the BlackSea is a uniqueobjecton the Earth:its
(0,6%).By its chemicalcomposition
gasemissions continental
shelfhidesmore oil and gas than the
fromthe bottomof the BlackSea are similarto PersianGulfandthe NorthSea.
gas-condensate
field.The total
of the Golitsynske
data shows
The analysisof the echo-sounder
rateof gas emissionmakesup_172thousands
m3
gas
are
the
depthfrom
that
blow-outs
observed
at
fromthe studiedareaof 16 km' (Tkeshalashvili
et
0
up
550-600
m
in
the
Black
and
thereare
to
Sea
al., 1997).Gas showsconstantlydischargeinto
gas emissionsfrom the sea bottomsituating
no
seawaterand saturate it with methane.The
lower.Howeverstudyof the gaseousregimeof the
oceanographic
expeditionof the RA/"Knor"carried
Sea testifiesthat seawatersdo not contain
out in the Black Sea in 19BBestablished
that Black
methane
at the depthfrom0 up to 550-600m, but
concentration
of methanein its waterswas of 11
lower
and
up to the bottom seawaterscontain
pM beginning
fromthe depth550-600m up to the
gas.
hydrocarbon
bottom(Fig.7). Thisfactprovesthatthe BlackSea
distribution
of the gaseousregimein the
Such
is a uniquephenomenon
of our planet,as no seas
Black
corresponds
diagram
Sea
to the equilibrium
containrnethanein their waterelsewherein the
converts
to
hydrate
of
methane
hydrate:
methane
world.Arithmeticcalculations
showthat thereare
approx.80 bln. m3 of methanein seawaters. state in water by the temperature+8" C and the
Moreover,it shouldbe taken into considerationpressure55-60 atm (Berecz,Balla-Achs,1983).
renewed. Hence,methaneoccursin hydrateconditionboth
thatthe BlackSeawatersare constantly
Lower streams of concentratedwater enter the in seawaterand in bottomsedimentslower than
Black Sea through the Bosporus from the 550-600 m. Existingpressureand temperature
in the BlackSea allowto suggestthat
Mediterranean;
upper streams of fresher water conditions
methane
and hydrogen sulphide previously
comefromthe BlackSea intothe Mediterranean.
regarded
dissolvedin the seawaterare in gas
as
Accordingto calculations
of differentinvestigators
(Figs.8-1
condition
1).
the renewaltime of the BlackSea watersis 410- hydrateous
2000years.lt meansthat the watersenteringthe
Gas hydratesplay an importantrole in the
BlackSea from the Mediterranean
and thosefrom geologicalhistoryof the Earth. Unconventional
the rivers Dnieper,Danubeetc. are constantly giantgas accumulation
in the KivuLakewaters(a
saturatedwith methaneowing to powerfulgas riftsystemin the WestAfrica)containing
57,3bln.
flows discoveredrecentlyby Ukrainianscientists. moof methanenotin porousrock,butin thewaters
The expeditionof the RA/ "GlomarGhallenger" of the lake at the depthtrom 275 m up to 425.m
whichcarriedout deepwaterdrillingin the Black (bottom)becamea puzzlefor geologists,
as gas is
Sea confirmedthat its bottomsedimentscontain held in the lake without any screening.This
hugeresources
of gas.Membersof theexpedition strangegas fieldmay be explained
by hydrateous
notedthat core samplesextractedfrom sea floor natureof methane.Gasesin the BlackSea have
sediments
werechargedwithgas,and sometimes thesamenature.
theywereblownoutfromcorebarrels.
GEO-ECO-MARINA,
91998
National lnstituteof Marine Geology and Geo-ecologyof Romania
Proc. lntem. Workshopon "ContinentalMargins and Sea Level Changes"in Tescani,Romania, Oct. 6 -12, 1997
19
i-:-l
cH. bM!
'rel
-i-
500
"\
3
t000
t
oeprh (m)
1500
.
2000
?500
Fig. 7 Watercotumnmethaneconcentration
profileat Sta.BKS2
(fromReeburgh,
1991)
Fig. 8 Profileof He.Sin the BlackSea (430N,340E- BSs_2
(fromMillero,199i)
I
I
I
I
I
I
o5rolsi0zjn4
Flg. 9 Equilibrium
diagramfor CHrJ.lzShydrate
(fromBerecz& Balla-Achs,1983)
Fig.10 Equitibrium
diagramfor CH+-COz
hydrate
(fromBerecz& Balla-Achs,
19g3)
No
Dethanq
gae
ghovg
Flg. I I scheme of distributionof the free methane and methane hydrate in the Bleck sea
_
Nationallnstitute
of MarineGeology
andGeo-eoology
of Romania
Proc.lntem.Wotkshop
on"Continentat
Margins
andSeiLevelChanges"
i Tascani,
Romania,
Oct.6 -12,IggT
- Gaseousregimeaf theBlackSea
V,l. Sozansky
Spatialdistribution
of gas showsin the BlackSea,
their relationto deep faultsand mud volcanoes
testifiesto deep inorganicoriginof gas in this
region(Sozansky,
1990).
Searchfor oil and gas in the BlackSeashould
be concentrated
in the first placeon the structures
withmudvolcanoes.
complicated
Thezoneswhere
gas emissionswere found belong to very
prospective
areas.Accumulations
of gas hydrates
are developedin bottomsedimentswhere the
depthof seawaterexceeds550-600m.
REFERENCES
Is5-2
BERecz,E., Bnlm-AcHs, M., 1983, Gas Hydrates,
Budapest:Akademiai
Kiado,343 p.
Black Sea Oceanography. Results from the 1988
Black Sea Expedition,Editor;J.W. Murray,1991,
Deep-SeaResearch,38, Suppl.lssue2a, 1266p.
Geologyof the Shelf of the UkrainianSSR, Oil/GasBearing,Editor in Chief: P.F.Shpak,1986, Kiev:
Nauk.Dumka,151 p. (in Russian).
SHnvuxov,E.F. et al., 1997,Geologyof the BlackSea
According to the Results of Geological and
Geophysical Investigations,5 Cruise RA/ "Kiev",
Departmentof Marine Geology,NationalAcademy
of Sciencesof Ukraine,189 p. (in Russian).
SHruvuxov,
E.F., SozANsxy,
V.1.,1995, Gas Hydrates
of the Black Sea Basin. PetroleumGeologyand
Hydrocarbon Potential of the Black Sea Area.
Abstracts,Varna, 64-65.
Soznrusrv, V.1., 1990, Theory and Practice of
Explorationof Oil and Gas from Position of their
Abiogenic Origin, Kiev, Nauk. Dumka, 82, (in
Russian).
TKESHALASHVTII,
G.l. et. al., 1997, MethaneEmissions
from the Black Sea Bottom in the Mouth Zone of
the Supsa River at the Coasts of Georgia.
G e o k h i m i a3,, 3 3 1 - 3 3 5. ( i n R u s s i a n ) .
GEO-ECO-MAR|
NA,3/1998
Nationallnstituteof MarineGeologyand Geo-ecologyof Ramania
Marginsand SeaLevelChanges"in Tescani,Romania,OcL6 -12, 1997
Proc.Intern.Workshopon "Continental
2l