Compared to the thermogenic accumulations, the biogenic gas accumulations occur under more predictable geological circumstances. Globally, it has been estimated that more than 20% of methane reserves are biogenic. In Romania, the interest in geological accumulations of biogenic methane has steadily grown over the last decade, so that the largest discovery, with estimates of accumulated methane values that would cover the entire domestic consumption needs for a period of 6-8 years, is the biogenic gas accumulated in the Domino structure in the Romanian Black Sea exclusive economic zone.
This research program contains three component sub-projects:
– Plio-Quaternary geological structures favorable to methane generation and accumulation in the Romanian Black Sea area;
– Determination of geo-biochemical parameters associated with geological structures within the geological context highlighted by project 1, in order to model 1D methane generating processes and build analogies for the generation and accumulation processes in the Plio-Quaternary sediment stack;
– The paleogeographic evolution of the studied regions, in the context of current and Quaternary environmental and climatic changes, their influence on the processes of methane generation and accumulation;
The project is an interdisciplinary one, involving researchers from the fields of geosciences (geologists, geophysicists, geochemists), natural sciences (chemistry, physics, biology), from almost all regions of Romania. The project is intended to capitalize on the Romanian research infrastructure at the Black Sea, but also to contribute to its further development by completing and updating the equipment necessary for research, in line with global technological developments, including the specialization of researchers for new technologies.