Palaeozoic petroleum systems of the murzuq basin, libya. Sirte basin, situated in the northcentral part of libya, is the largest oil producer in africa. Libya geolgy 04 22 petroleum geology in libya the sirte zelten system the dominant system in the sirte basin is called the sirte zelten system. This paper presents an interpretation of integrated potential field dataset from ajdabiya trough, northeast sirt basin libya. A full field static model of the rgoil field, central. Exploration activities of sirte basin commenced during the late 1950s followed by. To read the sirte basin province of libya, sirte zelten total petroleum system. Geology libya petroleum geology petroleum reservoir. The sirte zelten is not necessarily the only system that operates in this area, but the alternatives are not yet fully understood and so cannot be.
Satellite imagery for structural geological interpretation in. Thermal maturation history of the sirte basin, libya gumati. The paleocene strata in sirte basin, libya, contain major oil and gas accumulations in a variety of lithofacies of reef and bioherm carbonate depositional environments. Title the sirte basin province of libya electronic resource. Waha reservoir characterization and distribution in the.
Stratigraphic nomenclature of the sirte basin, libya in. Hydrocarbon resources and future potential of the sirte. Libya sirte exploration basin report wood mackenzie. Since 1999 he has worked as a consultant, advising companies and conducting workshops in several countries, and producing.
The sirte basin province of libya electronic resource. This paper presents the first record of identifiable palynomorph assemblages from the arshad sandstone, sirte basin, northcentral libya. The upper cretaceous oilbearing sandstone reser voir overlies basement and is capped by upper cre taceous shales. Geochemical evaluation of campanian sirte shale source rock. Subsurface exploration of the palaeozoic petroleum systems of libya, algeria, tunisia and morocco began in the early 1950s after.
During the course of the program, six eastwest traverses spaced at 3. Sirte, libya, source rock, maturation, kerogen, geochemistry. The upper paleocene khalifah formation, which is one of the main reservoirs containing about 30% of. The sirte basin is a major sedimentary basin that extends southward from. Usgs bulletin 2202f paperback pdf, remember to follow the link under and save the document or have accessibility to additional information that are relevant to the sirte basin province of libya, sirte zelten total. This is a continuation of a paleozoic trend that had yielded some big discoveries in eastern algeria. The asset report for the libya sirte exploration basin has been archived. The sirte basin also referred to as sirt basin, is located. Sirte basin covers more than 500,000 square kilometers of northcentral part of libya with recoverable reserves of 48 billion barrels of oil and about 50 tcfg, considered as the most prolific basin in libya figure 2. A large amount of data has been published on the geology of libya, but it. The sirte basin province of libya sirtezelten total. Reservoir rocks range in age from precambrian to eocene. Imprint tripoli, libya, petroleum exploration society of libya, 1972.
Jan 31, 2019 the asset report for the libya sirte exploration basin has been archived. The latest survey was an experimental line shot in 1995, with five heavy vibrators sweeping over the bandwidth 840 hz and 720 recording channels. For this project, the world was divided into eight regions and 937 geologic provinces. The sirte basin province of libyasirtezelten total petroleum system by thomas s. Structural elements of the sirt basin, showing oil and gas fields, areas of study, and. The prolific sirte basin became the focus of exploration after several magnetic surveys outlined the structural make up of the basin. Eca conference on the petroleum industry and manpower requirements in the field of hydrocabons 1974,feb. The basin spreads over part of algeria, tunisia and libya and extends over 350000km2 area. The sirte basin province of libyasirtezelten total petroleum. There is one dominant petroleum system in the sirte basin sourced by the cretaceous campanian sirte shale that has been explored in the offshore to water depths of. Petroleum geology in libya libyas first oil discovery was made by esso standard in 1957, in the western ghadames basin. The sirte basin province of libya sirte zelten total petroleum system by thomas s.
It was developed as a series of nwse trending it was developed as a series of nwse trending horsts and grabens platforms and troughs by the collapse of the sirte arch in lower cretaceous time. Exploration activities of sirte basin commenced during late 1950s followed by the first commercial discovery in 1958 well a2. Zelten holds the title as the largest oil field in the gulf of sidra. The zelten oil field now known as the nasser field is located at the foot of the zelten mountains, about 169 kilometres 105 mi south of brega in concession 6. The sirt basin, the most prolific oil basin in africa, contains 89% of libyas reserves and 16 giant oil fields. Read pdf the sirte basin province of libya, sirtezelten. Pdf emerging exploration potential in a super basin. The eastern sirte basin is a prolific mesozoiccenozoic oil province containing a number of supergiant fields including amal,augilanafoora, messla and sarirc, cumulative reserves being in excess of 23 gbor. The main goal of this work is to explore gas in the bir tlacsin shale in well e1nc58, murzuq basin, sw libya. Petroleum system concepts applied to sirte basin libya exploration. This new insight into this play has been used by omv to identify in ghadames basin the area with possible tunnel valley features, analogues to those drilled in libya murzuk basin ghienne, 2003.
Sirte formation is composed mainly of shale, sandy shale, being partially sandy and calcareous facies indicating presence of possible source. The influence of regional tilting, uplift, and unroofing upon the upper satal petroleum system of northwest sirt rift province, libya. The sirt basin is a wide mesocenozoic rift basin figure 1 composed of several troughs separated by intrabasin highs deepening towards the east, played as an aborted intracontinental rift of late cretaceous age considered to be typical of a tethyan extensional rift system, began in the early cretaceous and peaked in the late cretaceous 4, 5. Offshore sirte hypothetical assessment unit 20430103. Sirte and rachmat formations have been identified as the main source rocks for hydrocarbons in the sirte basin, north central libya 1,2 figure 1, with total organic carbon toc contents ranging between 1% and 5% 3. Paleogene subsidence has facilitated the generative process with mesozoic basinfill sediments hosting source rocks for productive petroleum systems. The sirte basin province is characterized by one dominant petroleum system, the sirte zelten, which is subdivided into four assessment units. Regional framework of hot shale the area investigated in this study is in souther tunisia, northern flank of the ghadames basin. Pdf structure of the ajdabiya trough, ne sirt basin.
Since 1999 he has worked as a consultant, advising companies and conducting workshops in several countries, and producing the first edition of petroleum geology of libya in 2002. The civil uprising of 2011 interrupted exploration activity in the basin. The sirte basin is considered to be an example of a complex petroleum system in which petroleum sourced from upper cretaceous shales has migrated into multiple age reservoirs, mainly vertically into carbonate buildups along the various horsts and along the raised carbonate platforms. Hydrocarbon resources and future potential of the sirte basin, libya. First record of palynomorph assemblages from the arshad. Delineation of eight endmember generic oil families indicates a number of complex contributory petroleum systems, mixedsystem hybrid oils. The geology of the sarir oilfield, sirte basin, libya. Depositional and tectonic controls on architecture of the. Among the 12 productive samples, the preservation of palynomorphs was generally poor to fair, limiting identifications at. Petroleum potential of the underexplored basin centers a. The study aimed to assess the role of basement structures in the development of the ajdabiya. The producing sedimentary basins in libya are the sirt, ghadamis, murzuq, and tripolitania basins, collectively containing the countrys major 320 producing oil fields. The upper paleocene khalifah formation, which is one of the main reservoirs containing about 30% of the oil reserves of the sirte basin, is composed of.
Hydrocarbon resources and future potential of the sirte basin. Petroleum systems of the sirte basin regional petroleum geochemistry and correlation of crude oils from the sirte basin, libya geomark research, ltd. To read the sirte basin province of libya, sirtezelten total petroleum system. Organic geochemical evaluation of cretaceous potential source. Seismic penetration problem in the wadi field, sirte basin, libya. The sirte basin ranks th among the worlds petroleum provinces, having proven oil reserves estimated at 43. Pdf geochemical evaluation of east sirte basin libya. It is found that, unlike the basins of southern libya and algeria, there is little surface expression of the sirte basin. These results confirm that the prospectivity of the sirte basin is not exclusively dependent upon the sirte shale. Petroleum systems of the sirte basin geomark research.
New insight on petroleum system modeling of ghadames basin. Underdown and redfern 2008 performed petroleum system modeling of ghadames basin along a ew section fig. Over the past few years, sirte oil company of libya has acquired several seismic surveys in this area. In the southeastern portion of the sirte basin, clastics of early cretaceous age are the primary reservoirs in 72 fields. The sirte basin, located in the north central part of libya, is one of four known sedimentary basins in libya. As discussed in previous paragraph, 2d model can not be considered representative for the whole basin to infer source rock maturation and hydrocarbon generationmigrationaccumulation, if basin has undergone variable geological complexity along different directions. The size and volume of the remaining hydrocarbon potential. Processing of 2d seismic data from western sirte,libya.
The sirte basin is a major sedimentary basin that extends southward from the gulf of sirte in central libya. It was developed as a series of nwse trending horsts and grabens platforms and troughs by the collapse of the sirte arch in lower cretaceous time. Usgs bulletin 2202f paperback pdf, remember to follow the link under and save the document or have accessibility to additional information that are relevant to the sirte basin province of libya, sirtezelten total. Waha reservoir characterization and distribution in the ralah. Aeromagnetic interpretation, zelten field area, sirte basin. The north african margin affected by several phases of tectonic events. Aeromagnetic interpretation, zelten field area, sirte. Satellite imagery for structural geological interpretation.
Petroleum system and hydrocarbon potential of deep areas. Unlike the basins of southern libya and algeria there is little surface expression of the sirte basin. The present geochemical study deals with evaluation of sirte shale campanian source rock in arshad area which is located in the central sirt basin in north central libya. The main depression within a sedimentary in the east sirte basin is the agedabia trough figure 1 where the. Cutting samples n 93 from the sirte, tagrifet, rakb, rachmat, bahi formations of upper cretaceous and nubian formation lower cretaceous derived from eleven wells 6c159, 6j159, 6r159, kk165, oo265, m151, kk165, b96, b95, b99, e1nc59 locate in the amal, gialo, nafoora, and sarir fields present in east sirte basin were analysed in the aim of their organic geochemical evaluation. This chapter describes the stratigraphy and tectonic evolution of sirte basin of libya. The zelten oil field is not associated with the town zelten, which is located in the northwest of libya. Pdf geochemical evaluation of east sirte basin libya petroleum. The sirte basin province is characterized by one dominant petroleum system, the sirtezelten, which is subdivided into four assessment units. Traditionally the marine upper cretaceous sirte shale formation source was thought to provide the dominant charge. Organic geochemical evaluation of cretaceous potential. The basin developed from the late paleozoic through much of the early cretaceous, with continuous uplift that created the sirte arch. Foreign operators reentered the basin over 2012 but security deteriorated in 2014 and we expect unrest to continue in the near to medium term.
Stratigraphic nomenclature of the sirte basin, libya. The ghadamis basin petroleum systems involve ordovician, silurian. The principal petroleum system is the cretaceous sirte shalepaleocene eocene system. The sirte basin province of libyasirtezelten total. The geology of the sarir oilfield, sirte basin, libya abstract the sarir oilfield nelson bunker huntbritish petroleum lies near the southeastern margin of the late cretaceoustertiary sirte basin of libya. Numerical estimates in the plane basin modeling system, izvestiya, physics of the solid earth, 50, 1, 73, 2014. The basin consists of one dominant total petroleum system, known. Sirte basin covers more than 500,000 square kilometers of northcentral part of libya with recoverable reserves of 50 billion barrels of oil. Geochemical evaluation of campanian sirte shale source. The petroleum systems of the five major onshore sedimentary basinssirt, murzuq, kufrah, ghadamis, and cyrenaicaand the offshore tripolitania basin are described. Ghadames, located within the saharan platform, is an intracratonic polycyclic intracontinental basin encompassing more than 250000 km2 in the western part of north africa. Ahlbrandt foreword this report w as prepared as part of the world ener gy project of the u. Exploration has been active in the sirte basin, libya from 1956 through 1977 and has resulted in discoveries that are estimated to total between 3.
Seismic penetration problem in the wadi field, sirte basin. The wadi field is located within the north central part of the sirte basin, libya. The sampled area was 15x80 km in size, or 1,200 sq km. A full field static model of the rgoil field, central sirte. Ninety core samples from five different wells were macerated to isolate palynomorphs, but 78 samples turned out to be barren.
Geochemical evaluation of east sirte basin libya petroleum systems and oil provenance. Geochemical evaluation of east sirte basin libya petroleum systems and oil provenance article pdf available in geological society london special publications 2071. Since the previous edition, published in 2002, there have been numerous developments in libya, including the lifting of. Sirte basin covers more than 500,000 square kilometers of northcentral part of libya with recoverable reserves of 50 billion barrels of oil and about 40 tcfg, considered as the most prolific basin in libya. Structural and stratigraphic play fairways of sirte group. Libya has the largest petroleum reserves of any country in africa and since production began in 1961 over 20 billion barrels of oil have been produced. The province contains one dominant total petroleum system, the sirtezelten, based on geochemical data. There is one dominant petroleum system in the sirte basin sourced by the cretaceous campanian sirte shale.
The ghadames basin located in western libya is a large intracratonic sag basin formed during the early palaeozoic and accumulated up to 6000 m of palaeozoic and mesozoic sediments underdown and redfern, 2008. The sirte basin also referred to as sirt basin is a late mesozoic and tertiary continental rift, triple junction, in northern africa. The sirte basin also referred to as sirt basin is a late mesozoic and tertiary continental rift, triple junction, in northern africa that borders a relatively stable paleo. Stratigraphic studies of the phanerozoic rocks of libya retraced 19 regional unconformities. Selley introduction the sirte basin is a major sedimentary basin that extends southwards from the gulf of sirte in central libya fig. Future exploration and development will increase this amount. Dr hallett then joined sirte oil company and spent ten years in libya, reaching the position of exploration superintendent. New insight on petroleum system modeling of ghadames basin, libya.
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