SOURCE ROCK POTENTIALITY, BASIN MODELING, AND OIL TO SOURCE CORRELATION IN NORTHERN SHUSHAN BASIN, WESTERN DESERT, EGYPT

摘要

Source rock potentiality and maturation of organic matter are important for petroleum system evaluation. Oil to source correlations helps in determining migration pathways. A set of geochemical analyses, including Rock-Eval pyrolysis and gas chromatography, and burial history modeling have been used to evaluate the potential source rocks and the generation of hydrocarbons in northern Shushan Basin, Western Desert of Egypt. The cutting and core samples cover the section from the Middle Jurassic Khatatba to the Upper Cretaceous Abu Roash formations. The main objective of this study is to determine source rock potential and maturity, the timing of hydrocarbon generation, and to characterize and correlate the bitumen extracted from Alam El-Bueib (AEB) and Khatatba rocks with the oil recovered from Bahariya reservoir. Results show that only a thin interval in AEB-3A and AEB-3C units are capable of generating moderate amounts of gas with some oil. Unlike other parts of the northern Western Desert, the older Khatatba rocks do not appear to contain significant amounts of good quality Kerogen. The Bahariya reservoir oil was derived from mixed organic matter source (algal-terrestrial) and is mature. It is believed that Bahariya oils were sourced from AEB rocks with a minor contribution, if any, from the Khatatba Formation. The normal faults dissecting the area act as migration pathways from deeply seated source rocks to more shallow reservoirs.