Dimitrios Ktenas
Dimitris is an Early Stage Researcher (ESR) fellow Geologist hired by North Energy ASA for the GLANAM (Glaciated North Atlantic Margins) project. His PhD position in “Marine Geology and Geophysics” is attached to the University of Tromsø (UoT) in collaboration with the University of Durham (UDUR).
He holds a BSc degree in Geology from the Department of Geology of the University of Patras and at the same department he graduated with a MSc degree in Environmental Geosciences. His MSc thesis was based on a sedimentological and geochemical research of Potamos formation in Gavdos island, South Crete – in direction of hydrocarbon prospectivity. Moreover during his studies he was involved with research tasks such as submarine landslides and slope stability analysis, tsunamis and seabed fluid flow from active faults, mud volcanoes, pockmarks and their relationship to seismic activity.
His last experience was as an engineering geologist in a construction company and before that, in 2008, he was at the Hellenic Navy at the navigation department. Also during his 2nd year of the MSc degree he worked as a laboratory assistant at the Department of Geology at the University of Patras. Moreover during his BSc years, in 2006, he was involved in a project as a field geologist in collaboration with a cement company, TITAN SA.
Contact Information
Dimitrios Ktenas
PhD candidate
Geologist
North Energy ASA
Forskningspark Tromsø, Sykehusvn 23
e-mail: [email protected]
Tel.: +47 957 52 219
Brief Overview of Research Project
Title of the Project: “Quantification of uplift and erosion using rock physics and compaction trends in shales”.
Supervisors: Associated Professor Erik Henriksen & Dr Tommy Samuelsberg (UiT / North Energy ASA), Professor Karin Andreassen, (UiT) & Professor Mike Bentley, (UDUR).
The Barents Sea has experienced profound erosion and uplift during the last 2.7 million years related to the growth and decay of ice sheets (Jan Sverre Laberg†, Karin Andreassen and Tore O. Vorren, 2011).
The key challenges in oil and gas exploration in the Barents Sea is related to the effect of this erosion and uplift due to shut – off of hydrocarbon generation due to cooling of the source rocks, top seal and / or fault seal failure combined with long retention time of hydrocarbons and change of hydrocarbon properties. The uplift and erosion will also have an impact on acoustic properties of shales, sands, fractures and faults. Direct hydrocarbon indicators like AVO (Versus Amplitude Offset), will change character (classes) with depth based on the compaction trends for cap rock (typically shale) and reservoir rock, which are inherently different. As the subsurface layers are uplifted and eroded, the altered stress regime in the overburden will stop the compaction. The goal of this project is to combine geological projects based on seismic interpretation, vitrinite reflectance data, apatite fission track data, etc., combined with rock physics models and porosity loss trends in order to estimate the amount of eroded sediments and timing of the uplift. The rock physics models will be calibrated to wells and used to quantify the uplift and erosion from appropriate seismic attributes like AVO and acoustic impedance and Vp / Vs. The work will comprise a study on the compaction and porosity loss as a function of the overburden stress. Studies of the depositional environments will be used to constrain model inputs of mineralogy. The findings from the studies will again serve as input to the overall understanding of primary hydrocarbon migration models, secondary migration following fill-spill and finally to a qualified estimate of seal potential of identified traps in the Barents sea. The pioneer industrial partner North Energy ASA will provide both supervision as well as the key data sets (well and seismic data) for the research
References
Jan Sverre Laberg†, Karin Andreassen and Tore O. Vorren. Late Cenozoic erosion of the high-latitude southwestern Barents Sea shelf revisited Geological Society of America Bulletin, January 2012, v. 124, no. 1-2, p. 77-88, first published on September 2, 2011.
