Oil and Gas Reserves and Resources of the Mediterranean Countries

Abstract

The littoral States of the Mediterranean belong to very different geographic and geological units, giving rise to a wide variety of landscapes and petroleum potentials. The provinces of the European margin, deeply marked by the Alpine orogeny, exhibit a wide variety of Secondary and Tertiary basins, often richer in gas than in oil, especially in Italy. Those of the African margin, which advanced to varying degrees into this continent, display stages from the Primary to the Tertiary, with rich basins in the Sahara, Algerian Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. On the eastern margin, Syria has several petroleum zones at the periphery of the large Mid-East Basin.

These basins, and particularly those of the northern margin, have been the subject of intensive prospecting. This has allowed the discovery of some 11.4 Gt of oil and 8400 G.m³ of gas, with the share of the countries of the African margin accounting for 86% and 82% of the total respectively.

The future discoveries that can be reasonably anticipated can be expected mainly in the African margin, and the Syrian basins. On the whole, oil and condensate reserves of about 3 Gt and gas reserves of some 4000 G.m³ appear probable.

The deep offshore Mediterranean does not appear likely to contribute a significant share of these future discoveries at least in the medium term, given the extreme water depths.

These prospects of future discoveries, slightly less than present proved reserves, would help to raise the number of years of production at the present rate from 26 to about 40 for oil and condensate, and to double the years of production of gas, which would be increased to slightly over a century.

Although these figures appear fairly significant, they are still far below those of the Middle East.