Petroleum geology and resources of Afghanistan
- Geological Survey, Palo Alto, CA (United States)
- Geological Survey, Reston, VA (United States)
Afghanistan consists largely of a series of continental fragments that, moving northward, docked and accreted to the southern proto-Asia continent. The tectonization of the accreted terranes is generally severe and prospects are limited essentially to the 48, 000 mi{sup 2} (124,000 km{sup 2}) North Afghanistan basin. This basin represents the Afghan portion of the Turanian platform, plus the orogenic belt around its southern and eastern perimeter. Exploration to date is judged to be preliminary in character, with some 5 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas and 80 million barrels of oil being discovered by 1980. There are two types of traps: Mesozoic low-amplitude drapes or tilted fault blocks, and Neogene high-amplitude folds. Appreciable reservoirs are limited to three horizons - Upper Jurassic, Lower Cretaceous, and Paleogene - of which the lower Cretaceous is considered to be the best. Source rock is confined largely to the Lower and Middle Jurassic shales. Upper Jurassic evaporites form a barrier between the Jurassic source shales and the Lower Cretaceous reservoirs and Neogene folds. There appear to be five principal plays, and estimated total recoverable petroleum in them is 300 million barrels of oil, 9.6 TCF of gas, and 145 million barrels of condensate. 19 refs., 4 figs., 6 tabs.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 237675
- Journal Information:
- International Geology Review, Vol. 37, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: Feb 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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