--> Abstract: Miocene Salt Structures as Exploration Indicators in the Offshore B-Trend, Gulf of Suez, Egypt, by A. M. Saoudi; #91004 (1991)

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Miocene Salt Structures as Exploration Indicators in the Offshore B-Trend, Gulf of Suez, Egypt

SAOUDI, ABDEL MOATY, Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company, El Maadi, Cairo, Egypt

The B-Trend is a structural horst block extending in a northwest-southeast direction for about 40 km in the southern offshore area of the Gulf of Suez. It contains six individual sub-structures (six oil fields) oriented along strike and dipping toward the southwest. Subsurface geologic data from 60 wells together with the available seismic data in the area were integrated to explain the development of salt structures along this belt and their influence on oil exploration.

These salt structures are restricted to the Belayim and South Gharib formations of middle and upper Miocene age, respectively. Moreover, they are arranged as linear features along the trend. Thickening in the Belayim salt is due in some cases to injection and in others to deposition. The apexes of the Belayim injected salt bodies are located down-dip from the crest of the underlying structures and are shifted westward from the apexes of the overlying larger South Gharib salt bulges. The highest corner of the pre-Miocene structures is located to the east of the injected Belayim salt pillows. Thick Belayim salt of depositional origin usually exists on the downthrown side of the leading edge fault to the east.

The thickness ratios between the different members of the Belayim Formation help to differentiate between the injected and deposited salt bodies. These ratios can be used to orient well tracks to the optimum structural target while drilling.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91004 © 1991 AAPG Annual Convention Dallas, Texas, April 7-10, 1991 (2009)