Isolated Cretaceous Carbonate Platforms Of The Mediterranean: The Example Of Bagnolo

Abstract

The recent discovery of Zohr and Calypso gas fields in Egypt and Cyprus offshore opened a new play concept for the Eastern Mediterranean area, focused on high-relief isolated carbonate platforms of Cretaceous age. At the present time, Cretaceous carbonate platforms can be found in very different geotectonic domains of the Mediterranean area, from rift basins to thrust belts. The most promising reservoirs have been often involved in orogeny deformation or occur at various depths in subsurface, hindering the search for analogues of the Zohr structure that could help to better understand the HC potential of this new Eastern Mediterranean play. An analysis and comparison between the more than 30 shallow water domains that characterized the Western Neotethys during Cretaceous was performed on the basis of paleolatitude, size of the platform and position in respect to emerged land, in order to find potential analogues for the Zohr-like platforms of Eastern Mediterranean. Among the selected analogues, one of the most interesting is the Bagnolo Platform, which hosts the Bagnolo in Piano oil field and develops entirely in the in Emilia Romagna region (Italy) subsurface.