Mesozoic rift basins in western desert of Egypt, their southern extension and impact on future exploration
- Conoco, Cairo (Egypt)
Rift basins are a primary target of exploration in east, central, and west Africa. These intracratonic rift basins range in age from the Triassic to the Neogene and are filled with lagoonal-lacustrine sand-shale sequences. Several rift basins may be present in the Western Desert of Egypt. In the northeastern African platform, the Mesozoic Tethyan strand lines were previously interpreted to have limited southern extension onto the continent. This concept, based upon a relatively limited amount of subsurface data, has directed and focused the exploration for oil and gas to the northernmost 120 km of the Western Desert of Egypt. Recent well and geophysical data indicate a southerly extension of mesozoic rift basins several hundred kilometers inland from the Mediterranean Sea. Shushan/Faghur and Abu Gharadig/Bahrein basins may represent subparallel Mesozoic basins, trending northeast-southwest. Marine Oxfordian-Kimmeridgian sediments were recently reported from wells drilled approximately 500 km south of the present-day Mediterranean shoreline. The link of these basins with the Sirte basin to the southwest in Libya is not well understood. Exploration is needed to evaluate the hydrocarbon potential of such basins.
- OSTI ID:
- 5537196
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-8809346--
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA), Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA) Vol. 72:8; ISSN AABUD; ISSN 0149-1423
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
AFRICA
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
EGYPTIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
EXPLORATION
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
MESOZOIC ERA
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESOURCES
RIFT ZONES
ROCKS
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SHALES