Hydrocarbon migration and structural reservoir traps in the Western Black Sea Basin: evidence from satellite-derived gravity tensor data

The Black Sea, situated between Türkiye, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, and Russia, is tectonically separated into two different sub-basins: Eastern and Western Black Sea. These two sub-basins have been a target of interest for oil and gas exploration for several decades. Although the participation of the Black Sea Basin in the global oil market is very small compared to the Caspian Sea, this basin is considered a potential hydrocarbon deposit since both areas have similar characteristics in terms of source rock. In this study, satellite-derived Bouguer and free-air gravity data were interpreted to disclose the prospective hydrocarbon reservoirs and gas hydrate deposits within the Western Black Sea Basin. The locations of the maxima identified in the I2 invariants map were assessed as five substantial hydrocarbon prospective zones three of which are in the Turkish Exclusive Economic Zone. Numerous oil and gas seeps are evidence of lateral and vertical hydrocarbon migration from the source rock through major faults in the WBSB where the maximum I2 anomalies are observed.