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Morocco's Rif Foreland Basin Offers a Major New Previous HitOilNext Hit and Previous HitGasNext Hit Play

J. Christian Pratsch

Morocco contains a number of distinct basins, each with its specific geological history. No major producible Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit have yet been found in spite of major past efforts. However, in the Rif Foreland Basin in onshore northwestern Morocco a large yet unexplored new Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit play exists. This play is centered on two distinct major depocentres lying in front of the Rif Thrust Belt; they are known from published gravity and magnetic data and should contain thermally mature Mesozoic source beds. The Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit reserve potential here lies in the class of 0.5-1.0 billion BOE or higher, with new Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit reserves of hundreds of million BOE or more per discovery.

Previous HitOilNext Hit source beds are known from the southern Prerif Basin flank in several Jurassic carbonate and shale units; Previous HitgasNext Hit may be generated in additional Paleozoic and Neogene source beds. Potential reservoirs range from Paleozoic, Triassic and Jurassic clastics to Jurassic carbonates and Miocene/Pliocene sandstones. Traps will be structural and stratigraphic. Small Previous HitoilNext Hit production of some 7.0 million BO has been obtained along the basin's south flank. Previous HitOilNext Hit generation, migration and entrapment occurred since Early Miocene. Modern seismic data permit mapping down to basement. The key to successful low-cost low-risk exploration here lies at reliable seismic data acquisition following a detailing fill-in gravity survey.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91020©1995 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, May 5-8, 1995