Age really is an issue

The majority of the source and reservoir rocks for the hydrocarbons in North Sea and the North West Shelf are Jurassic (200–146 Ma) in age. In both the exploration and production phases, the study of palynology, especially fossil dinoflagellate cysts, is one of the principal techniques used in subdividing the hydrocarbon-bearing successions. High-resolution zonal schemes have been developed for both these areas, and have been routinely applied for around thirty years. The BGS has been a key player in the formulation and refinement of the standard Jurassic scheme and we have shown that integrated studies using these microfossils can resolve interregional geological problems.