The Albian-Aptian sand fairway in the Outer Moray Firth of the United Kingd
om Continental Shelf informally referred to as the Kopervik fairway, poses
considerable challenges to the explorationist, but has the potential to gen
erate significant commercial reward. After an initial spate of activity in
the mid 1970s, the Kopervik Sandstone remained largely ignored as a primary
exploration target until the late 1990s, despite its excellent reservoir q
uality and proven charge. This renewed exploration effort led to a number o
f successful discoveries. As a result of this activity - and a willingness
among operators along the fairway to share information - a large regional d
atabase is developing. Drawing on this, we summarize our current and histor
ical understanding of the fairway, using existing discoveries as examples.