A new approach to the oil and gas geological zoning of the territory of Azerbaijan

The theoretical foundations have been developed and a scheme of oil and gas geological zoning of Azerbaijan has been created based on the introduction of "basin" characteristics into the nomenclature of elements allocated in the "provincial" approach.The novelty in the proposed scheme of oil and gas geological zoning is the allocation of a hierarchical level -"hydrocarbon systems".The Caspian-Kura oil and gas province (megabasin) is distinguished on the territory and in water area of Azerbaijan.As the next hierarchical level of oil geological zoning within the oil and gas province (megabasin), three oil and gas areas (basins) have been identifiedthe Middle Kur, South Caspian and Middle Caspian areas (basins).The next category of hierarchically subordinate elements in the systematics of zoning objects is the hydrocarbon system (HS), which distinguishes the proposed scheme of oil and gas geological zoning of Azerbaijan.The results of the analysis and numerical modeling of hydrocarbon systems in the South Caspian oil and gas basin reveal three classical generation-accumulation hydrocarbon systems (GAHS): Eocene-Pliocene GAHS; Maikop-Pliocene GAHS and Miocene-Pliocene GAHS.Within the basin, there are also three unconventional (shale) HS: Eocene, Maikop and diatomaceous HS.In the Middle-Kura region, there are two GAHS: Eocene and Maikop GAHS; two unconventional (shale) HS -Eocene and Maikop.In the Middle Caspian region, there are three GAHS: Eocene-Pliocene, Maikop-Pliocene and Maikop-Cretaceous GAHS.There are also three unconventional HS -Cretaceous, Eocene and Maikop.