New Opportunities for Offshore Oil Exploration in the Arabian Gulf

Paul A. Titley
Area Exploration, Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Hydrocarbon exploration by Saudi Aramco in the offshore Arabian Gulf began in 1951 with the drilling of the Safaniya-1 well. Safaniya-1 was the discovery well for the largest offshore oil field in the world and it was followed over the next 30 years by another 25 offshore exploration wells targeting light oil in structural traps. In 2004, Aramco began actively exploring again for hydrocarbons in the Arabian Gulf by acquiring a regional grid of high fold 2D seismic data. Un-drilled structural closures were revealed by this grid of 2D lines and in addition, other types of exploration opportunities were identified. This presentation will describe three of the newly identified opportunities. First, previously unexplored stratigraphic traps will be described. The second opportunity involves types of hydrocarbons that were not objectives in the previous phase of exploration. These hydrocarbons include deep gas and low-gravity, moderate viscosity oil. Finally, the potential for unconventional reservoirs has been observed. These unconventional reservoirs are fractured, high-pressure, carbonate source-rock.

AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Cape Town, South Africa 2008 © AAPG Search and Discovery