Geologist Robert Trice has faced nature’s challenges in order to drill in the waters west of the Shetland Islands in Scotland, and has seen success by finding an oil well in an area called Lancaster. Trice estimates that the rocks in this area could hold more than half a billion barrels of extractable oil. His find suggests that there are more sources of oil in the waters surrounding Britain awaiting discovery. While oil is usually found and extracted from porous rocks like sandstone, Trice’s source of oil is within “crystalline and impermeable” granite that is believed to be storing large amounts of oil within its fractures. These sources of oil are described as “oil basements” (Reed). Thus, reservoirs of oil found in basements are contained not within the pores of rocks but within their fractures. There are many different definitions for what exactly constitute basement rocks. One definition claims they are “metamorphic or igneous rocks…which are unconformably overlain by a sedimentary sequence” (Sircar). Examining the subject in terms of oil, basement rocks are claimed to be “where metamorphic and igneous rocks… are unconformably overlain by a younger oil-generating formation” with the oil generated by above sediments traveling downwards to be stored in the metamorphic and igneous rock underneath (Sircar). Basement reservoirs have almost always been uplifted continuously over time and thus experienced significant weathering and erosion. These upliftments have been caused by the interactions of the plates comprising the Earth’s crust or by the submergence of basement rocks that then covered with layers of sediment. Such unconformities in the reservoirs allow for the creation of pathways through which oil can travel downwards and accumulate (Sircar).

Such discoveries of oil and potential profitable oil wells show the potential that basement rocks have, a potential that is often ignored. Although the costs are often greater, due to the greater technology required to dig deeper and through harder rock, oil accumulations in basement rock are believed not to be anomalies, but natural and normal (Sircar). Thus, although many oil companies stop drilling when they hit basement rock, the oil deposits present within this layer should also be investigated. Although Trice’s company, Hurricane, often struggled to acquire investment to fund its expensive explorations or receive full approval from its investors, their success in extracting oil in Lancaster could be a force of possible change in the way basement oil is perceived. This could lead to greater investment in the future that could impact the oil market and the ways that oil is currently drilled.

Reed, Stanley. “A Geologist Bets on a North Sea Gusher That May Never Come.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/15/business/energy-environment/hurricane-energy-robert-trice-drill.html.

Sircar, Anirbad.“Hydrocarbon Production from Fractured Basement Formations.” Current Science, 25 July 2004, pp. 147–151, tejas.serc.iisc.ernet.in/.