The Albanides tectonic setting comprises partly the Apulia Foreland, Orogenic Fold-and-thrust Belts and the Periadriatic Foredeep.
Apulia Foreland, named the Sazani zone in Albanides, outcrops along the Karaburuni peninsula and Sazani Island, while at onshore depth its top carbonates is detected in few seismic lines. Meanwhile in the Adriatic Sea and Ionian one offshore, this unit presence is confirmed by three drilled wells and numerous seismic lines, as a thick carbonate sequence of the Triassic to Oligocene age, followed upward by molasses sequences of Miocene to Pleistocene.
Albanides Orogeny comprises several Fold-and-Thrust Belts nappes that overthrust onto each other south-westward and entirely onto the Apulia-Sazani Foreland. The overthrust front outcrops obviously at the Llogara pass, whereas its northwest and southeast continuity is completely masked by Periadriatic Foredeep deposits.
Periadriatic Foredeep, named the Durresi Depression in Albanides, consists of premolasses, molasses and late molasses deposits of Miocene to Pleistocene that cover transgressively most of the Apulia-Sazani-Paxos Foreland and partly the Ionian-Kruja orogenic nappe.
Concerning the hydrocarbon potential, Durresi Depression, Ionian-Kruja nappe and Apulia Foreland are most prolific units, which comprise several types of hydrocarbon accumulation discovered and depicted prospects in the targets of the Cretaceous-Paleogene limestone and the Neogene sandstone. On the other hand, considering geological setting similarity, hydrocarbon exploration results gained in Albanides may be useful references for work in Hellenides, Dinarides and Apennines.
