The Inner-Alpine Vienna Basin an Example of a Small Sedimentary Area With Rich Oil Accumulation

Abstract

Sediments in the Vienna Basin are several thousand meters thick and range in age from middle Miocene to lower Pliocene. Faulting and strong basement relief have divided the basin into several blocks or units showing complicated structure.

Exploration has resulted in the discovery of a number of oil fields in which oil accumulation is associated with drag structures, buried hills, anticlines, and stratigraphic traps.

The ratio between the volume of the basin sediments and the amount of oil discovered shows that the Vienna Basin with an oil content of 175,000 barrels per cubic mile has a rich oil accumulation considering its small size.