Abstract The exploration for oil and gas in the Adriatic Basin of Italy has resulted in a large quantity of pressure data. Abnormally high pressures in the area are mainly caused by compaction disequilibrium resulting from the high sedimentation rate of the Pliocene to Quaternary strata. The comparison of pressure profiles in the northern and central Adriatic basins has shown the presence of five pressure regions. Three regions are present in the post-Messinian siliciclastic succession that infills the Adriatic foredeep, and two pressure regions have been identified in the Cretaceous to Miocene carbonates of the Apulian continental margin. The boundaries of these regions are coincident with the main structural features of the Apenninic belt, indicating that the major thrusts act as pressure barriers. In the post-Messinian strata, the innermost region (with respect to Apenninic vergence) includes the inner buried thrusts in front of the Apenninic chain. This region is characterized by moderate to low overpressures, hydrostatic gradients, and good lateral hydraulic continuity. In the second region, in proximity of the outermost thrusts, overpressures are high and compartmentalization is pronounced. In the third pressure region, the undeformed foredeep of the Apennines, lateral hydraulic continuity prevails and high overpressures are present in the two principal Pliocene depocenters (the Romagna foredeep and the Pescara Basin). The fourth region, in the Cretaceous to Miocene carbonates, includes strata involved in Apeninnic thrusting; it is characterized by moderate overpressures. The fifth pressure region, in the foreland of the Apulian margin, has normal pressure conditions. Gas pools in the lower Pliocene interbedded sandstone-shale sequence in the first pressure region are mostly found below regional mudrock seals; whereas in the second and third pressure regions the overpressured shale beds in the lower Pliocene provide excellent seals for the interbedded gas-bearing sandstone reservoirs.

Abstract Three-dimensional visualization techniques were used to determine the presence of a submarine sinuous channel in the Pleistocene foredeep basin of the Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean). The channel system (Adria Channel) drains the upper slope and forms a leveed-channel system and frontal splays out onto the basin floor. Integration of geomorphic and morphometric studies applied to the seismic data set gives insights into the paleoceanography of the buried basin. In particular, the Adria Channel indicates that, besides the channelized flows, bottom currents swept the lower slope, affecting the overgrowth of levees, the deflection of sediment waves, and the progradation of sediment units draping the channel–levee system. The Adria Channel is the longest channel system recognized in the Pleistocene units of the Adriatic Sea (160 km) and one of the few sinuous channels described in a collisional margin.

Abstract Italy is the most hydrocarbon endowed country of southern Europe, with total discovered reserves (produced+remaining) of 1840 million barrels of oil and 30 trillion ft 3 of gas. The production of oil amounts to 43.2 million barrels per year, about 75% of which comes from the Val d'Agri Field in the southern Apennines. The production of gas is 340 billion ft 3 per year, most of it coming from the northern Adriatic Sea. Hydrocarbon occurrences derive from a variety of petroleum systems which are the result of a complex geological history. At least five important source rocks have been recognized which are distributed in age from Mesozoic through Pleistocene. Three of them were deposited during Mesozoic crustal extension and are mainly oil-prone. Hydrocarbon occurrences associated with these sources are usually found in complex carbonate structures along the Apennines thrust-and-fold belt and in the foreland. Villafortuna–Trecate (Po Plain), Val d'Agri/Tempa Rossa (southern Apennines) and Gela (Sicily) fields represent the largest oil accumulations pertaining to these systems. Two other important sources rocks were deposited in the foredeep terrigenous units of the foreland basins which formed during the Cenozoic orogenesis. The older source is thermogenic gas-prone and is found in the highly tectonized Oligo-Miocene foredeep wedges: gas occurrences associated with this source are mainly concentrated along the northern Apennines margin (e.g. Cortemaggiore Field), in Calabria (e.g. Luna Field) and Sicily (e.g. Gagliano Field). The younger source is biogenic gas-prone and is situated in the outer Plio-Pleistocene foredeeps. The most important gas fields of Italy, located in the eastern Po Plain and northern Adriatic sea (Barbara and other gas fields), have originated from this source. Hydrocarbon exploration in Italy is overall mature, especially for gas, whose residual potential is estimated to be 6.0 trillion ft 3 of reserves. The remaining potential of oil is estimated to be 800 million barrels.