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Abstract: New Oil and Gas Plays, Morocco and Tunisia, North Africa

J.-Christian Pratsch

Modern integrated exploration concepts have defined two new oil and gas plays in onshore North Africa: The Prerif Basin in Morocco and the Central Basin in Tunisia. The Moroccan Prerif Basin is somewhat similar to Rocky Mountain basins, the Tunisian Central Basin to West Texas.

In Morocco, two major gravity-indicated depocenters lie along the contact between the northern Tertiary Rif Fold- and Thrust Belt and the southern Prerif Foreland Basin. No deep drilling or seismic data have been reported over these depocenters. They probably contain thick Jurassic oil source beds known from the southern basin flank; regional hydrocarbon migration was mainly north to south. Reservoirs will include sandstones and carbonates of Triassic, Jurassic, and Miocene ages. Some small oil production from Jurassic and Tertiary reservoirs at the southern edge of the basin is now shut-in.

In Tunisia, a large (over 60,000 sqkm) regional structurally low area is indicated by gravity and regional geological data. Geochemistry shows a huge gas and oil potential from Paleozoic source beds. Main hydrocarbon migration most likely was from west to east. Reservoirs will include Paleozoic and Triassic sandstones, similar to those in the many producing fields in the North African Sahara Region. This play has not yet been initiated.

Attractive legislation and market possibilities exist in both areas.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90957©1995 AAPG Mid-Continent Section Meeting, Tulsa, Oklahoma