Galicia's Atlantic coast basin -- a new oil province

The Galicia basin in the Atlantic Ocean off northwestern Iberia (Spain and Portugal) is a passive margin basin covering about 1.5 million acres. It has a similar history and geometry to other passive margins further south (Morocco) and north (Porcupine, Rockall), while lying opposite the Jeanne d'Arc basin with Hibernia oil field in pre-drift reconstructions. Galicia basin exploration to data has been hampered by a number of problems. Only six wells have been drilled, with several finding reservoir absent on bald structures or because of poor seismic, being positioned off-structure. Yet the stratigraphic successions penetrated in these wells can now be integrated to establish a sedimentologic model of Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous source-reservoir seal rock associations of the type commonly found in giant oil fields. The geology of the region is described.