Abstract

Hydrocarbon exploration in the Karewa Basin remains in its nascent stage, primarily due to insufficient geological and geophysical data, the absence of deep well information, and the basin’s complex geological framework. These factors together pose major challenges for comprehensive subsurface understanding with its bearing on hydrocarbon resource assessment. Exploration activities in Karewa Basin were paused due to outstretched socio-political instability but with a significant move towards pursuing energy exploration in Karewa Basin, ONGC tried to re-initiate the exploration activities after a prolonged hiatus of forty-seven years with an objective to unlock the subtle hydrocarbon potential. Following it, a comprehensive Prospectivity Analysis of Shallow Biogenic and Thermogenic Gas was attempted by collation of vintage GravityMagnetic data, newly acquired Airborne Gravity Gradiometry data, Adsorbed Soil Gas Survey data, Geological Field data and shallow well log data of Central Ground Water Board (CGWB). After synthesis of all G&G data, an Envisaged Geological Model is generated for Karewa / PreKarewa sequences in northwestern part of Karewa Basin with identification of five prospective lead areas to explore Shallow Biogenic and Deep Thermogenic gas potential.