Limited exploratory drilling based on relatively sparse seismic data has occurred since at least 1890 in onshore Late Triassic–Early Jurassic rift basins of the eastern United States (U.S.). Although rich source rocks and thermally generated hydrocarbons have been documented, commercial petroleum accumulations have not been found. Consequently, in 2012 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessed these basins as having potentially modest volumes of primarily continuous (unconventional) resources.

Using these findings and interpretations, what then is the prospectivity of similar age undrilled rift basins in the offshore of the U.S. Central Atlantic? Are there any indications of differences between the...