Abstract Fractured gneiss lithologies form a basement-cored high, the Rona Ridge in the Faroe–Shetland Basin. Basement structures are known to play an important role in the petroleum system for the overlying giant Clair Field. An onshore analogue exposure in the Lewisian Gneiss Complex at Kinlochbervie in NW Scotland provides an example of a hanging-wall damage zone of a large basement-hosted normal fault. In this study, we used remote sensing (2D), outcrop line sample methods (1D) and a virtual outcrop created by terrestrial laser scanning methods (3D) to characterize spatial variations of the fracture systems. Spacing distributions from 1D line samples collected from exposures and pseudo-wells constructed through the virtual outcrop show power-law distributions. The virtual outcrop data enable us to extend the scale-invariant description from 1 to 3 orders of magnitude. We developed a novel box-counting workflow to provide an assessment of 2- and 3D variations in the fracture properties. Fracture density and fractal dimension are elevated whereas the number of intersections is decreased within a 220 m-wide volume adjacent to the fault. We discuss how the methods and results from this study can aid the development of analogue for basement reservoirs in the offshore UK continental shelf.

Abstract Geological survey was first set up in Malaysia in 1903 mainly to facilitate tin mining activities that were started in the 1820s. Nevertheless, upon merging with the Department of Mines to form the Department of Mineral and Geoscience Malaysia (JMG), and also in order to meet the changing national needs, the new department has become increasingly relevant to a wide range of important national issues that help improve the well-being of society and contribute to the socio-economic development, an aspect that this paper describes. The changing role of the department is well reflected by the department being listed as a member of more than 57 technical committees in the country in the field of land-use planning, groundwater-resources management and mitigation of hazards. As we advance into the future, the department needs to ensure it is capable of rendering a more holistic service covering a wider spectrum of geological and geoscience activities to cater for the ever-increasing demands from society, industries, stakeholders and the government. For that reason, the Geological Survey Act, 1974 is being revised to beef up and provide the necessary jurisdiction in line with the duties, responsibilities and roles played by the JMG.

Abstract The Lewisian outcrops at Gairloch and Loch Maree have long been regarded as key areas in the Lewisian complex of NW Scotland because of the presence of the supracrustal rocks of the Palaeoproterozoic Loch Maree Group enclosed within the Archaean gneisses. Long before the age of this Group was known, attention was focused on these areas because the existence of metasedimentary rocks offered the possibility of establishing a stratigraphy within the Lewisian complex. Until relatively recently, Lewisian ‘stratigraphy’ was based entirely on the relative ages of igneous and metamorphic events. The early Geological Survey workers debated whether the acid gneisses represented deformed granites which intruded the metase-diments or whether they represented an older basement on which the sediments had been laid down. During the discussion that followed the reading of the classic paper on the Lewisian by Sutton & Watson (1951) , C. E. Tilley proposed that the critical region for interpreting Lewisian stratigraphy was neither Loch Laxford nor Loch Torridon, but Loch Maree and Gairloch. The pioneering work by Sutton & Watson on the Lewisian complex of NW Scotland stimulated the study of Precambrian basement complexes worldwide. Their methods offered the expectation that dyke swarms and other igneous suites could be used as stratigraphic markers to construct a chronology of tectono-thermal events in what seemed hopelessly confusing gneiss terrains.

Abstract Miospores demonstrate that the Walls Group of West Shetland is of early and possibly in part late Givetian age (Late Mid-Devonian age). This is both substantially younger in age and of a shorter duration than previously estimated. The correlative rocks of the Walls Group are those of southeast Shetland, Fair Isle, the Eday Group of Orkney and the John O'Groats Sandstone Group of Caithness. The two formations of the Walls Group are, at least in part, time equivalent rather than a stacked sequence. The total thickness of sediment is likely to be much less than the generally cited 12 km, given the short time duration represented by the single miospore assemblage identified throughout the succession. The low diversity of the miospore assemblage and its fluctuating dominant species is interpreted as reflecting a local vegetation source in a low preservation environment. The age and thermal maturity contrast between the Walls Group and the sedimentary successions to the west (Melby, Papa Stour and Foula) provide further constraints on the movement history along the St Magnus Bay Fault system.

Abstract Commercial production of hydrocarbon from fractured crystalline basement is well documented, with petroleum basins across the globe hosting fractured basement fields. The UK is an anomaly within this global phenomenon as, despite numerous serendipitous discoveries of basement oil in the North Sea and the West of Shetlands, there is currently no commercial field on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) that is reliant on oil production from fractured basement. Recognizing that this situation presented an exploration niche, Hurricane Energy plc (Hurricane) was formed to focus on UKCS basement exploration and concentrated its efforts in acquiring exploration acreage in the West of Shetlands. In 2009 Hurricane drilled the first well designed to explore the basement play on the UKCS, leading to the Lancaster Discovery with a contingent resource range (1C–3C) of 62–456 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe). The Lancaster Discovery is presented to summarize the challenges and processes that have been applied in the exploration and evaluation of the West of Shetlands basement play. Conclusions from this work indicate that basement hydrocarbon resource potential is of such significance that it may represent a strategic resource for the UK, with over 1154 MMboe of 2C and mean unrisked prospective resources so far identified.