A Regional Overview of the Exploration Potential of the Middle East

Fraser, Alastair¹, Jeremy Goff², Bob Jones³, Christoph Lehmann⁴, Ivor Simpson² (1) BP Exploration Inc, Sunbury on Thames, United Kingdom (2) BP Exploration, Sunbury on Thames, Middlesex, United Kingdom (3) BP Exploration, Sunbury-on-Thames, United Kingdom (4) BP, Houston, TX

The Middle East is the world's most prolific petroleum province and contains 5 of the 6 largest oil producing countries. Namely Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and the U.A.E. This success is largely due to the stacked nature of what are essentially very simple petroleum systems with multiple carbonate platform and deltaic reservoirs, regional evaporitic seals, world class source rocks and the overprint of very large compressional anticlines.

BP's unique database gathered during some 100 years of exploration activity in the region has been used to generate a plate scale understanding of the geological evolution of the Middle East and an evaluation of the regional resource potential of the region.

A detailed tectonostratigraphic history of the plate is used to define a total of 6 play fairways, which are analysed for their petroleum potential.

Palaeozoic e.g. Unayzah and Jauf fields of Saudi Arabia Khuff (Upper Permian) e.g. South Pars/North Dome field of Qatar and Iran Arab (Jurassic) e.g. Ghawar Field of Suadi Arabia Zubair (Lower Cretaceous) e.g. Rumaila/West Qurna Field of Iraq Burgan (‘mid' Cretaceous) e.g. Burgan Field of Kuwait Asmari (Tertiary) e.g. Asmari and Bangestan Fields of Iran

All major fields are seen to be the products of :

i) compressional folding either as thin skinned Zagros folds or as thick skinned inversions of older Infra-Cambrian (north-south) and Permian-Triassic (northwest-southeast) rifts, ii) salt induced anticlines

The areal distribution of the various play types is determined by the interplay of regional facies and burial trends. These are discussed using a series of detailed palaeo facies and depth maps.

Finally, we comment on the remaining exploration potential in the region from a play fairway point of view.