Integrated 3D forward stratigraphic and petroleum system modeling of the Levant Basin, Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

The Eastern Mediterranean Levant Basin is a proven hydrocarbon province with recent major gas discoveries. To date, no exploration wells targeted its northern part, in particular the Lebanese offshore. The present study assesses the tectono‐stratigraphic evolution and related petroleum systems of the northern Levant Basin via an integrated approach that combines stratigraphic forward modeling and petroleum systems/basin modeling based on the previous published work. Stratigraphic modeling results provide a best‐fit realisation of the basin‐scale sedimentary filling, from the post‐rift Upper Jurassic until the Pliocene. Simulation results suggest dominant eastern marginal and Arabian Plate sources for Cenozoic siliciclastic sediments and a significant contribution from the southern Nilotic source mostly from Lower Oligocene to Lower Miocene. Basin modeling results suggest the presence of a working thermogenic petroleum system with mature source rocks localised in the deeper offshore. The generated hydrocarbons migrated through the deep basin within Jurassic and Cretaceous permeable layers towards the Latakia Ridge in the north and the Levant margin and offshore topographic highs. Furthermore, the basin model indicates a possibly significant influence of salt deposition during Messinian salinity crisis on formation fluids. Ultimately, the proposed integrated workflow provides a powerful tool for the assessment of petroleum systems in underexplored areas.

Leaky salt: pipe trails record the history of cross-evaporite fluid escape in the northern Levant Basin, Eastern Mediterranean

“…Although we cannot conclusively show the past existence of overpressure in the distal Lebanese offshore, it most likely occurred by analogy with the southern Levant Basin (Bertoni et al, 2017). Our hypothesis also agrees with models for the regional petroleum system, which postulate up-dip hydrocarbon migration eastwards from biogenic and thermogenic source rocks located towards the deeper basin (Barabasch et al, 2018;Ghalayini et al, 2018;Nader et al, 2018). Besides promoting fluid migration, basin margin uplift may have also reduced the water column along the margin, inducing gas exsolution from the hydrocarbons already trapped in the anticlines, thus increasing overpressure by buoyancy (e.g.…”

“…However, direct hydrocarbon indicators and stratigraphic correlation with nearby areas point to a potentially prolific basin. Many possible source rocks spanning from the Permian/Triassic to the Miocene are identified in various areas of the basin (Barabasch et al, 2018;Ghalayini et al, 2018;Marlow et al, 2011). Thermogenic hydrocarbon generation has been active since the Late Cretaceous in the deeper basin and Latakia Ridge (Bou Daher et al, 2016), whereas biogenic methane generation started in the Miocene across the Lebanese offshore.…”

Characterization of Late Cretaceous to Miocene source rocks in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: An integrated numerical approach of stratigraphic forward modelling and petroleum system modelling

“…This is ca. 15-20 Ma earlier than proposed by Barabasch et al (2019) or Bou Daher et al 2016, who, however, did not distinguish between the lower and upper boundary of these source rocks. Source rocks falling into this zone of maturation have converted 50% of its initial kerogen between 20 and 15 Ma, and almost 100% at present day (Figure 15g,h, location 1).…”

“…Consequently, the sediment supply coming from the Nile had to be increased with each deactivated source in order to still fill the complete basin. Sediment supply as well as fluvial discharge were mainly adopted from Hawie et al (2015) and Barabasch et al, (2019).…”

Grain-Size and Discharge Controls on Submarine-Fan Depositional Patterns From Forward Stratigraphic Models

“…Forward stratigraphic modeling can be applied to predict the location and heterogeneity of depositional systems and petroleum reservoirs (Miller et al, 2008), as well as the depositional response to controlling factors (Piper and Normark, 2001). For example, in an exploration scenario with lowresolution seismic-reflection data (generally two-dimensional, 2-D, profiles with frequencies of 5-20 Hz; Normark et al, 1993;Prather et al, 2012) and no lithologic control from well penetrations, seismic-stratigraphic interpretation and structural restoration can be applied to create a paleotopographic surface for modeling the location, size, shape, and sub-seismic heterogeneity and stacking of deposits (Groenenberg et al, 2010;Aas et al, 2014;Deville et al, 2015;Hawie et al, 2017;Barabasch et al, 2019). Commonly used geostatistical methods in reservoir modeling use semivariograms, geometric parameters, and/or training images to reproduce spatial statistics from available seismic-reflection and well data (Pyrcz and Deutsch, 2014;Pyrcz et al, 2015).…”