BGR Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe

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PANORAMA: Petroleum Assessment of the Arctic North Atlantic and Adjacent Marine Areas

Country / Region: Greenland Sea, Barents Sea

Begin of project: March 1, 2013

End of project: March 31, 2022

Status of project: March 31, 2022

With land-based and marine research in the Arctic, BGR contributes to the understanding of the geological evolution of the circum-Arctic continental margins since five decadesWith land-based and marine research in the Arctic, BGR contributes to the understanding of the geological evolution of the circum-Arctic continental margins since five decades Source: BGR

The PANORAMA project aims to contribute to the clarification of open questions in key areas of the European Arctic Sea and adjacent regions. The research program is aimed at using geological, organic-geochemical, and geophysical methods to obtain the necessary information on the subsurface structures of the northern North Atlantic as well as the northern Barents Sea and the East Greenland shelf in order to reconstruct the depositional history of sediments on the seafloor. Geomicrobiological methods have been used to investigate previously largely unknown hydrocarbon-degrading microbial communities in the sediments of this region. Knowledge of the microbial processes can help to assess the possible consequences for the ecosystem of the use of Arctic hydrocarbons.

Through applied research, BGR contributes to the creation of a basis for a knowledge-based assessment of the opportunities and environmental risks arising from the possible exploitation of energy resources from the marine Arctic region. The information obtained serves as an advisory basis for policy makers, industry, and the public.

A potential estimate of recoverable hydrocarbons was obtained using basin modeling for the northern Barents Sea and the northeastern continental margin of Greenland. Our estimates of these underexplored frontier areas are based on a newly developed methodology that differs from previous potential estimates by the U.S. and Norwegian geological services but results in similar magnitudes of hydrocarbons. Environmental studies are based on microbiological analyses of sediment samples showing unique microbiological communities in different Arctic regions, which have been recorded in a genetic database (rRNA). The ability to degrade hydrocarbons was investigated in laboratory experiments.

The work performed and diverse results of the project, including scientific publications produced, are documented in the final report (low resolution, 9 MB or full resolution, 125 MB).

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