--> Abstract: Petroleum Geology Of The Sahara-Arabian Region, by S. M. Billo; #90928 (1999).

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S. M. Billo
King Saud University, Saudi Arabia

Abstract: Petroleum Geology of the Sahara-Arabian Region

The world's largest petroleum reserves lie beneath the world's biggest desert - the Sahara-Arabian Desert - stretching across North Africa and the Middle East. The continental shelf basins and platforms of North Africa produce oil mainly from huge folds on lower Paleozoic sandstones, and gas from Triassic rocks. Cretaceous sandstones and Paleocene limestones are also potent reservoirs. In contrast, much of the oil in the Middle East Basin, extending from Saudi Arabia to Iran, is chiefly produced from middle Cretaceous sandstones and Upper Jurassic limestones. The major controls on source, carrier, and reservoir rocks seem to have been scrutinized by the Tethyan geosyncline that was occupied by the greater ancestral Mediterranean. The large petroleum traps of the area were related to plate tectonic patterns. The strain becomes more severe along the continental margins due to the separation between the African and European plates. The area holds 62 percent of the world's crude oil reserves. The use of 3-D seismic surveys, horizontal drilling, and satellite image analysis has recently boosted its oil and gas reserves and enhanced the yield from existing fields. Saudi Arabia is the world's top oil producer and exporter 262 billion bbl of reserves. Due to growing demand, today's low price could skyrocket and investment gains will increase in the long-term. The whole area may face intractable rivalry from Siberian and Venezuelan crudes due to unfavorable geographic and political factors.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90928©1999 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas