--> Abstract: Hydrocarbon System Model for the Arabian Plate, by Sarah R. Pietraszek-Mattner, William Maze, Gary Ottinger, Rosina Chaker, Martine J. Hardy, and George J. Grabowski; #90077 (2008)

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Hydrocarbon System Model for the Arabian Plate

Sarah R. Pietraszek-Mattner1*, William Maze1, Gary Ottinger1, Rosina Chaker1, Martine J. Hardy2, and George J. Grabowski1
1ExxonMobil, USA
2ExxonMobil, UK
*[email protected]

The thermal maturity of Arabian Plate source rocks was modeled using ExxonMobil’s Stellar™ basin-modeling software utilizing new plate-wide structure-contour maps at 19 unconformities spanning the Phanerozoic Era. The amount of sediment eroded at these major unconformities was estimated. Timing of generation and hydrocarbon yields were constrained by kinetic analysis of samples of source rocks, and the results were integrated with maps of source-rock distribution to arrive at the volume and extent of oil and gas generation. Lateral migration from the areas of mature source rocks was evaluated using the structure-contour maps, and the results were calibrated with hydrocarbon occurrences and geochemical correlations. The amount of missing section affects the timing of hydrocarbon generation for some source rocks in the Arabian Plate, which may be important for understanding the timing of migration relative to trap formation. Some reservoirs were apparently filled with oil soon after they were deposited. Geochemical correlation and characterization of oils from the region suggests lateral migration of at least 150 km from some areas of mature source rocks. Regional seals limit the extent of vertical hydrocarbon migration for most hydrocarbon systems. However, there are holes in many regional seals, caused by erosion or by faulting and fracturing, that allow oil and gas to migrate vertically to younger reservoirs. Some seals appear to be leaky, especially fine-grained siliclastic formations, which contain residual oil stains from migrating fluids. Kinetic analyses show that most source rocks on the Arabian Plate behave as anticipated by their organic-matter type. One exception is the Silurian Qusaiba Formation, which yields mainly gas and light liquids slightly earlier than a standard Type-II source rock.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90077©2008 GEO 2008 Middle East Conference and Exhibition, Manama, Bahrain