LATE JURASSIC-EARLY CRETACEOUS RIFTING IN NORTH SEA AND ITS CONTROL ON HYDROCARBON ACCUMULATION

Controlling factors on hydrocarbon accumulation in the North Sea Basin were studied in this paper based on previous research data. It reveals that there is a double-layer structure in the trifurcate rift grabens. The lower layer is a faulting structure formed by the movement of stretch rifting by the end of Late Jurassic, while the upper is a depressed structure formed by the thermal subsidence after Early Cretaceous. Most of the main faults occurs in the strata older than Cretaceous. The plays of hydrocarbon accumulation are Mesozoic fault-anticline sandstone controlled by the lower rift structure. Therefore, the rift stretching during Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous is the main controlling factor to hydrocarbon accumulation.