Applied Analog Structural Models in Hydrocarbon Exploration in the Offshore Mediterranran,Egypt

By

 Mesbah Hussein Khalil¹, Antonio Franchino²

(1) Ieoc,Agip. Eni Group, Cairo, Egypt (2) Ieoc,Agip-Eni Group, Ciro, Egypt

 The entire Nile Delta region can be separated into three structural sub-provinces; the Delta Back in the south (onshore), the frontal Sub-province in the north (Facing Cyprus) and the middle in the near offshore. The southern domain of the active Delta subsidence has migrated from the near Cairo Latitude during Oligocene-Early Miocene to about 60km distance from the present day Mediterranean shoreline in the present (Bardaweil sub-marine escarpment). Seismic interpretations indicated that these three structural sub-provinces includes four tectono-stratigraphic sequences; 1) Deep inverted Pre-Late Cretaceous, 2) Early Tertiary filling section, 3) Oligocene to Middle Miocene with combined Suez type of rift structures and Delta sedimentation and 4) Late Miocene to Recent prograding Delta complex. Structural investigations in the offshore Mediterranean, Egypt indicated three major sources of deformation applied over pre-existing fabric since Late Cretaceous to the Present. These sources are; 1) superimposed tectonics related to the anti-clockwise rotation of the Southeastern Mediterranean since Late Cretaceous to the Present, 2) predominate shale composition of the Oligocene-Present succession causing diapirism 3) differential compatibility of the Nile Delta section causing detachments at listric faults while block motion and subsidence. Contemporaneous differential subsidence rates with the reactivation of the pre-existing fabric distinguished the sub-provinces and controlled the role of each source of deformation. Trapping mechanisms in the area are related to the deep inverted Cretaceous structures, tilted normal fault blocks (Suez type of rift structures), role-over folding related to listric faulting and diapirism, gentile and strong folding, thrusting during Miocene-present.