Cretaceous Cretaceous The Cretaceous (, ) is a geologic period and system that spans 79 million years from the end of the Jurassic Period million years ago (mya) to the beginning of the Paleogene Period mya. It is the last period of the Mesozoic Era, and the longest period of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cretaceous Period is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation "Kreide" (chalk, "creta" in Latin). The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now-extinct marine reptiles,
Gulf Keystone Petroleum is notably one of the largest Super Giant oilfields discovered in the last 50 years. Shaikan was declared a commercial discovery on August 1, 2012 following a five-well appraisal program. Initially independent estimates place the gross oil-in-place (OIP) volume at 13.7 billion barrels (P50) potentially making it one of the largest oilfields discovered in Iraqi Kurdistan. The oilfield covers an area of some , and comprises a series of limestone reservoirs stacked upon each other. These reservoirs encompass a very long period of geological time, from the Cretaceous which ended some 65 million years ago to the Triassic, which began