Hydrocarbon potential of Upper Bahariya member in Um Baraka oil field, North Western Desert, Egypt

Abstract

The present study deals with the hydrocarbon potential evaluation of the Upper Bahariya Member (Upper Cretaceous) in Um Baraka field, North Western Desert. The Upper Bahariya Member is characterised by sandy shale facies in the UMB-152 well, calcareous shale facies in the UMB-89 well and calcareous sand facies in the UMB-108 and UMB-130 wells, these facies reflect to fluvio-marine environment changing to shallow marine environment. The petrophysical parameters results of Upper Bahariya Member are represented laterally (Iso-parametric maps, such as effective porosity, shale content, net-pay thickness and hydrocarbon saturation variation maps) and vertically (Litho-saturation cross-plots). The Iso-parametric maps revealed that the promising hydrocarbon-bearing zones are characterised by their clay content range from 1.7% to 21.4%, effective porosity ranges from 13.2% to 19.7%, net pay thickness range from 7.5 ft to 15.5 ft, and hydrocarbon saturations range from 39.3% to 68.3%. The log analysis and petrophysical parameters results indicate that the Upper Bahariya Member is considered to be the main potential reservoir in Um Baraka field. The petrophysical parameters of the Upper Bahariya reservoir illustrated the improvement of the reservoir properties of Upper Bahariya Member towards the north and northwest and northeast directions, due to increasing of total porosity, effective porosity and hydrocarbon saturation.