Petroleum geochemistry of the deepened Lopra-1/1A re-entry well, Faroe Islands

Abstract

The Lopra-1/1A re-entry well was drilled as a stratigraphic test with no immediate exploration objectives. Hence, petroleum geochemical studies were of limited extent, and restricted to non-destructive analyses. The presence of natural petroleum hydrocarbons could not be confirmed with certainty, but hydrocarbons extracted from the hydrochloric acid solute of a calcite vug present in RSWC #1 (3543 m), may represent indigenous petroleum since hydrocarbon-bearing fluid inclusions have been reported from the same sample. These hydrocarbons show some similarities to petroleum generated from the Upper Jurassic – Lower Cretaceous Kimmeridge Clay type source rocks present in surrounding areas. Except for this sample, the results generally show the presence of a variety of contaminants of different origins such as ‘naturally greasy fingers’ (squalene and cholesterol), cosmetics such as chap stick or hand lotion (e.g. esters such as butyl-stearate, stearyl-palmitate, vitamin A), plasticisers (phthalates), diesel oil and ‘pipe dope’.