Abstract This paper focuses on the southern part of the East Midlands oil province, in which most hydrocarbon reservoirs are in Carboniferous strata and are primarily oil producing. The oils are predominantly sourced from the Namurian interbedded shales in the Gainsborough Trough and are trapped within anticlinal structures. Oil and gas exploration and production in the UK was marked by the Hardstoft-1 discovery in 1919. Since this discovery, more than 33 fields have been discovered in the East Midlands oil province, including the fields studied in this paper: Egmanton (in 1955), Bothamsall and Corringham (in 1958), Gainsborough and Beckingham (in 1959), South Leverton (in 1960), Glentworth (in 1961), and, the UK's second largest onshore field, Welton (in 1981). All of these fields produce from a Carboniferous petroleum system, sourced from Pendleian-age shales, reservoired in Namurian- and Westphalian-age sands, and trapped predominantly via structural, anticlinal traps.

Abstract The Breagh Field is in UK Blocks 42/12a, 42/13a and 42/8a. It is a gas field with multiple reservoir intervals within sandstones of the Early Carboniferous Yoredale Formation (equivalent to the Middle Limestone Formation within the Yoredale Group onshore). It was the first and is presently the only field developed within these sandstones, offshore UK. Breagh was discovered in 1997 by well 42/13-2 and proved by development well 42/13a-A1. Its crest is at 7110 ft TVDSS (true vertical depth subsea), marked by the unconformity between the base Zechstein and the subcropping Yoredale Formation. It has a free water level at 7690 ft TVDSS, a maximum column height of 510 ft and a field extent of 94 km 2 . Breagh was developed using ten wells from a 12 slot normally unattended platform; five of the wells have been stimulated by hydraulic fractures with proppant injection. The unprocessed gas flows through a 110 km 20-inch diameter pipeline to the Teesside Gas Processing Plant. Production started in 2013, reached a peak rate of 150 MMscfgd in 2014 and, by the end of 2018, had produced 140 bcf. The field is operated by INEOS Oil and Gas UK Ltd (70%) with partner ONE-Dyas B.V. (30%).

Abstract The appellation ‘Belgian black “marbles”’ usually designates dark fine-grained limestones present in the Paleozoic substrate of south Belgium. They have been extracted mostly in Frasnian (Upper Devonian) and Viséan (Lower Carboniferous) strata, in various different localities (Namur, Dinant, Theux, Basècles, Mazy-Golzinne among others). Nearly devoid of fossils and veins, they take a mirror-like polished finish, with a pure black colour. These limestones were already known during Antiquity but were only intensively exploited from the Middle Ages. Many different uses were made of these stones, for architecture, decoration or sculpture, in religious or civil contexts, following all the successive styles, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, baroque and so on. All these products, architectural, decorative and sculptural, were probably manufactured close to the quarries and were first exported to neighbouring countries (France and the Netherlands), then to all of Europe (Italy, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Baltic states, etc.) and, by the beginning of the nineteenth century, worldwide. They were always considered as high value-added objects, which allowed them to travel great distances from their origin. Thousands of references document the widespread use of these exceptional natural stones. They were employed, among other famous applications, as the black background of the Pietre dure marquetry of Florence. Some other lesser uses were either for musical instruments or lithographic stones. Today only one underground quarry exploits the black ‘marble’, at Golzinne (close to Namur). This prestigious material, with its dark aura, is suitable for recognition as a Global Heritage Stone Resource.

Abstract This study gives valuable insights into the microstructure and pore space characteristics of 17 compositionally variable Visean shale samples from the Ukrainian Dniepr-Donets Basin (the ‘Rudov Beds’). The representative imaging area varies considerably (from 10 000 to >300 000 µm 2 ) as a function of the mineralogy and diagenetic overprinting. The pores hosted in organic matter (OM) are restricted to secondary solid bitumen. Based on high-resolution maps from broad ion beam scanning electron microscopy combined with organic geochemical and bulk mineralogical data, we propose that the amount of OM-hosted porosity responds to the availability of pore space, enabling the accumulation of an early oil phase, which is then progressively transformed to a porous solid bitumen residue. The type of OM porosity (pendular/interface v. spongy) is reflected in the individual pore size distributions: the spongy pores are usually smaller (<50 nm) than the pendular or OM–mineral interface pores. The OM-hosted porosity coincides with differences in the composition of the extract, with high amounts of extractable OM and saturated/aromatic compound ratios indicative of abundant porous solid bitumen. The average circularity and aspect ratio of the mineral matrix pores correlate with the corresponding values for the OM-hosted pores, which show a preferred bedding-parallel orientation, suggesting that compaction influenced both types of pore.