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Source Rock Distribution and Thermal Maturity in the Southern Arabian Peninsula

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GeoArabia, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1998 Gulf PetroLink, Bahrain Source Rock Distribution and Thermal Maturity in the Southern Arabian Peninsula Penelope A. Milner Phillips Petroleum Company ABSTRACT Recent work by Phillips Petroleum in the Southern Arabian Peninsula has elucidated the source potential of the Palaeozoic strata. A group of newly drilled and older wells, together with exclusive and non-exclusive reports, have been used in order to develop improved maturation and migration models for emerging plays, and to gain a better understanding of the subsidence and maturation history of this large and diverse area. It has been possible to conduct comprehensive burial history modelling for a number of wells from Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. This, together with the modelling of hypothetical wells derived from depth structure maps, has improved our understanding of oil- and gas-prone source rocks in the Cretaceous, Jurassic and Palaeozoic strata. The resultant maturity distribution has been developed with the aid of a more detailed structural model for the Southern Arabian Peninsula. In tandem with this study, available cores and cuttings were analysed to measure source rock total organic carbon, maturity and richness parameters and summarised using proprietary techniques. It is concluded that the Jurassic Hanifa Formation is less mature and not source facies to the south and west of the Rub’ Al-Khali. The oil and gas mature source facies is present in the north and east of the Rub’ Al-Khali and in the Western Emirates. In addition, it is concluded that the oil mature Silurian source facies is confined to the narrow southern and western margins of the Rub’ Al-Khali. Outside this area the over- mature area is in the core of the Rub’ Al-Khali extending northeast to the United Arab Emirates. The remaining area is modelled as gas mature in western Saudi Arabia and Qatar. INTRODUCTION Oil and gas maturity mapping of key Middle East source rocks is often simplified and confined to the Mesozoic. This paper describes a study conducted on 68 locations in Southern Saudi Arabia, Western Oman, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Yemen, and applied to several established source intervals of both Mesozoic and Palaeozoic age. Recognized source formations in the area are the Infra-Cambrian Huqf and so-called ‘Q’ source (Grantham et al., 1987), the Silurian Qusaiba Member (Mahmoud et al., 1992), the Permian Unayzah-Khuff Transition Zone (Abu-Ali et al., 1991), the Jurassic Hanifa Formation (Ayres et al., 1982; Wilson, 1984), the Lower Cretaceous Sulaiy Formation (Ayres et al., 1982; Taher, 1997), the Middle Cretaceous Shilaif Formation (Ayres et al., 1982; Wilson, 1984) and the Pabdeh Shale (Ala et al., 1980; Beydoun, 1993). The study was conducted to establish the distribution of source rocks and their maturity in the region of newly acquired acreage by Phillips on the southern flank of the Rub’ Al-Khali Basin (Figure 1). A suite of burial history models was generated for wells from concessions previously licensed by Phillips Petroleum in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. The first objective of this paper is to establish those areas of the Southern Arabian Peninsula which are mature for the presence of oil and gas. To accomplish this, it is necessary to map both source presence and maturity distribution. Through the integration of regional depth, isopach and facies maps, source rock presence and maturity distributions have been established for the Hanifa and Safiq formations. Mapping of Tertiary and Cretaceous source rocks is in progress. In addition, this paper intends to provide some insight into the Silurian source rock, a potential key to future exploration in the Middle East. Source rock samples were analysed for both richness and maturity. Statistical evaluation using Phillips Petroleum Company proprietary software ‘Source Rock Advisor’ (SRA) has provided a simple output useful for demonstrating source rock quality and maturity information for selected wells in the area. 339 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/geoarabia/article-pdf/3/3/339/4552786/milner.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 Milner 46° 48° 50° 52° 54° 56° 26° North 26° Dome 0 100 QATAR N Km ARABIAN GULF Palaeozoic oil field Ghawar Palaeozoic gas field 24° 24° Central UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Arabian 04 Wells: Good modelling input Fields 09 Wells: No temperatures 15 Wells: No temperatures or lithologies Al-Hawtah 6 22° 22° Figures 8 and 12 Sahmah SAUDI ARABIA L1 09 Wells: Good modelling input OMAN 20° 10 Wells: No temperatures L2 4 Wells: Good ° 11 Wells: No temperatures or lithologies 20 0 modelling input 11 Pseudo-wells Oman Block 36 Phillips 2 Wells: No tem- 0 peratures L3 Al-Hashman 1 YEMEN 18° 1 Well: No temperatures or lithologies 18° 2 Pseudo-wells 46° 48° 50° 52° 54° 56° Figure 1: Base map showing the area of study and modelling database for each country. No temperatures indicates lack of bottom hole temperature data. ‘Pseudo-wells’ are synthetic locations sited on key basins or highs. Major Palaeozoic fields are outlined. METHOD Structural Framework The structural framework for the study area was constructed using Middle East in-house literature, references, published reports and a historical database of seismic structure maps, supplemented by in-house interpretations of gravity, magnetics and satellite image data for the Arabian Plate (Figure 2). The Rub’ Al-Khali, a large basinal area, is composed of a number of sub-basins separated by northwest- and northeast-trending faults, attributed to the ancient Infra-Cambrian structural Najd and Dibba (informal) Trends, respectively (Husseini, 1989). This framework map provides the structural setting, for example, basin or high, for the burial history models. Knowledge of the tectonic evolution of certain structural elements was used to indicate the timing and amount of uplift in the models. In addition, an explanation for the presence of thin units in certain wells could be made using the accompanying tectonic history. These issues are key to the development of realistic burial history models. Chronostratigraphic Framework By subdividing each country into major structural segments, for example Southwest Oman, then further subdividing these areas into more detailed elements, such as the Rub’ Al-Khali and the Ghudun 340 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/geoarabia/article-pdf/3/3/339/4552786/milner.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 on 24 September 2021 by guest Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/geoarabia/article-pdf/3/3/339/4552786/milner.pdf 46° 48° 50° 52° 54° 56° 26° Dibdibba High Trough North 26° Dome Intermediate N QATAR Basin Ghawar South Gulf High Salt Basin Basement T L U A H Ophiolite F C A R B Major Palaeozoic A IB D 24° R oil fields A T Major Palaeozoic Riyadh A Suninah Foredeep Q gas fields 24° T Central Arabian R A Anticline Fields N UNITED ARAB Idsas S R Syncline CENTRAL U EMIRATES B ARABIAN ' A ARCH L Lekhwair Faults -K H High A L ZAULIYAH AXIS I L Fahud IN E Salt Basin A M E ° N 22 T 341 Musallim (Central) 22° platform Source RockDistribution,SouthernArabianPeninsula Source Sahmah E N I ° L 20 A B B 20° I Ghudun-Khasfah High SAUDI ARABIA D Figure 2: Surface and sub-surface Wajid Sayyala Basin structural Graben WEST RUB' AL-KHALI Oman OMAN framework map Block 36 BASIN Phillips based on reports, an Salt Basin literature and ° Eastern 18Flank proprietary satellite, 0 100 Tertiary Basin gravity and Basin 18° Southern Om magnetic studies. Km Southern Monocline Hazar Saddle YEMEN Yistah Some names are 46° 48° 50° 52° 56° Niymah High informal. Milner NORTH OMAN INTERIOR OMAN SOUTHWEST OMAN Eustatic Era Curve NE SW NE SW NE SW Group System OMAN MTS. SUNEINAH FAHUD LEKHWAIR SOUTH OMAN/GHABA HUQF FLANK RUB' AL-KHALI GHUDUN KHASFAH Qt. Lower Fars Asmari Formation Equivalent FARS Dammam Taqa ? Dammam Seeb Rus Tertiary Dammam Umm Er Radhuma CENOZOIC Umm Er Radhuma Jafnayn Rus MAUT ? HADRA- ? Umm Er Radhuma Simsima Simsima Shammar ARUMA Shale ARUMA Fiqa ARUMA Fiqa Natih WASIA Natih Natih WASIA ? Cretaceous Shu'aiba Nahr Umr Kharaib KAHMAH KAHMAH Lekhwair MAH KAH- Habshan Nahr Umr Salil Semail Opholite Hanifa Tuwaiq Mountain SAHTAN Hanifa, Tuwaiq Mountain & Dhruma Formations Dhruma MESOZOIC Jurassic Mafraq Mafraq Minjur Mahil Jilh Sudair Triassic Jilh Jilh Saiq Sudair Sudair Minjur Khuff Khuff Khuff Gharif ? Gharif Gharif Rahab Shale Permian Rahab Shale Al Khlata Al Khlata Al Khlata Legend Oil Carboniferous Gas Oil & Gas Source ? Speculative source Misfar Misfar Devonian ? Silurian PALAEOZOIC Safiq Safiq Ghudun Ghudun Barakat Ordovician Amdeh Andam Mabrouk Barik Miqrat Mahwis Amin Amin Amdeh Amin Cambrian Karim Haradh Pre-Haima Group Unknown in North Dhofar Ara Equiv ARA ARA Infra- ??? Cambrian Kharus Buah Buah HUQFMiaidin HAIMAShuram HAUSHI AKHDAR SAHTAN Shuram ? Hajir Kufai Kufai Mistal Abu Mahara Abu Mahara PROTEROZOIC Basement Basement Basement Figure 3: Oman chronostratigraphic summary for different regions and sub-regions. 342 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/geoarabia/article-pdf/3/3/339/4552786/milner.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 Source Rock Distribution, Southern Arabian Peninsula Khasfah High, a series of chronostratigraphic summaries were made. An example for Oman is shown in Figure 3. These summaries detail where each formation is present and its age, and allow a relatively simple comparison of the differing stratigraphic nomenclature from different countries. One key input related to the burial history modelling is the identification of major unconformities. These may be long-lived, for example the Hercynian Orogeny of Devonian to Carboniferous times (McGillivray and Husseini, 1992), or may be shorter events such as the Cretaceous pre-Aruma Unconformity which resulted from the uplift of the Oman Mountains (Figure 3). Burial History Modelling A series of burial history models was generated for 65 wells in the area with available log, lithology, and temperature data.
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