How Did the Baltic Basin Source Rocks Become the Shale Gas Exploration Targets in Poland?

Summary The results have shown that the Baltic Basin (both onshore and offshore) is the most promising area for the future shale gas and shale oil exploration in Poland. The area is prospective in the oil, wet and dry gas thermal maturity regimes and Sasino Fm out of three mentioned lower Paleozoic shale formations is considered to have the greatest potential for future shale gas and shale oil production due to its favourable reservoir quality. From the petroleum geochemical point of view, Piasnica Fm, an equivalent of the Alum Shale (upper Cambrian-lower Ordovician) and Jantar Fm (lower Silurian) shales are the best source rocks across the Baltic Basin.