Basin and petroleum system analysis in the southeastern Persian Gulf basin: a 2D basin modeling approach

Abstract

A regional 2D conceptual model was constructed to study the hydrocarbon systems associated with the Middle Sarvak source rock (Cenomanian) in the southeastern Persian Gulf basin. The 2D cross section used for this purpose was 135 km long and encompassed a total of 17 depositional units with the Late Jurassic Surmeh Formation at the base and the Aghajari/Mishan sequences at the top. Compositional type II-S kinetics was considered for the Middle Sarvak source rock, and the model predictions were calibrated against observe data (corrected bottom hole temperatures and vitrinite reflectance data) coming from 4 wells located on the studied cross section. Our results indicate that hydrocarbons predominantly migrate laterally from east to the west of the study area, thereby sequentially charging potential traps en-route. The interaction between facies patterns and geodynamic evolution controls both the distribution and quality of hydrocarbon accumulations in the study area. The calibrated 2D model reliably predicts most of the present-day hydrocarbon occurrences in the study area and explains the present-day variations in their bulk properties. Our findings provide new insights about the unconventional plays associate with the Middle Sarvak source rock especially in the central parts of the southeastern Persian Gulf basin.

Sequence Stratigraphy, Palaeogeography and Petroleum Plays of the Cenomanian – Turonian Succession of the Arabian Plate: An Updated Synthesis

“…Significant bathymetric relief was established, resulting in lateral facies changes from the shallow-water, mixed muddy and grainy carbonate platform tops and margins to deeper-water, basinal carbonate mudstones which may have had significant organic matter contents. Thus organic-rich carbonates of the Shilaif Formation were deposited in the Shilaif Basin (UAE and offshore Iran), in which deposition occurred throughout the Cenomanian (Burchette, 1993;Burchette and Briton, 1985;Vahrenkamp et al, 2015;Perrotta et al;2017;Franco et al, 2018;Alipour et al, 2021) (Figs 6 and 11). Within these carbonates, three Cenomanian depositional cycles have been recognized (e.g.…”