Geothermal regime and hydrocarbon generation in the Albanides

Following a summary of the geological structure of the Albanides and of the oil and gas reservoirs in Albania, the parameters controlling the distribution of the present-day geothermal field are analysed in detail: temperature, geothermal gradient and heat flow density in the centre of the Albanian Sedimentary Basin. The paper analyses the palaeothermal regime of the External Albanides for the Upper Triassic–Eocene carbonates and the Middle–Upper Miocene and Pliocene molasse. It looks in detail at the burial and thermal history of the External Albanides and discusses the implications for hydrocarbon generation.