Advanced 3-D Forward Stratigraphic Modeling of the East-Mediterranean Frontier Deepwater Basins: An Approach for Enhancing Reservoir Fairways Predictions

Abstract

More than 60 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas were recently discovered offshore Israel, Cyprus and Egypt. New plays have been proposed, and new un-explored areas may yield additional significant discoveries. The Eastern Mediterranean region is characterized by a lack of data, a complex geodynamic and tectono-stratigraphic evolutions, and high exploration costs. It is one of the typical frontier exploration areas, where numerical modeling is proposed to enhance reservoir play fairways predictions.

The objective of this contribution is to present a new approach for forward stratigraphic modeling, whereby the sedimentary filling and original organic matter distribution of the basin are simulated. First, a reference (base) model was constructed (500km x 400 km; horizontal grid resolution = 5km; vertical grid resolution = 50 m). This 3D model is constrained by paleo-geographic and isopach maps as well as seismic interpretation (facies and sedimentary architecture). It takes into account the tectono-stratigraphic history and the source-to-sink sedimentary basin filling. It covers a time span of 90 Ma, from the Senonian (Coniacian to Maastrichtian ages) to present day and succeeds to simulate the transition from a carbonate platform dominated post-rift phase to a siliciclastic turbiditic depositional system, which is linked to increasing detrital inputs due to major uplifts of the margin and increasing subsidence in the basin since the Cenozoic. In addition, the mixed Miocene marginal carbonates and basinal siliciclastics systems are modeled.

A series of scenarios/simulations were then applied in order to test various hypotheses of sediments input sources, timing of sediments entry, as well as their volumes and nature (i.e., siliciclastics/carbonates). Hence, the role of the different sources on the sediment distribution, and the associated impacts on the reservoir and source rock distributions were better understood. While the southern sediment sources (from the African continent) clearly provided the primary siliciclastic input, the Levantine eastern and northern sources appear to have played a major role as well. Source tracking of sediments helped in highlighting the influence of each proposed input point and the distribution of related play fairways.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90323 ©2018 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Salt Lake City, Utah, May 20-23, 2018