Exploration from the Frontier — Towards an Understanding of the Albert Basin

Paul C. Logan¹, Steve Curd¹, Bob Downie¹, Janice Weston², and Dave Shaw^3
1Heritage Oil & Gas, London, United Kingdom
²RPS Energy Ltd, Woking, United Kingdom
³Biostratigraphic Associates (UK) Ltd, Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom

Situated in the western arm of the East African Rift Valley, the Albert Basin has seen an upsurge in exploration in the past two years with a number of successful exploration wells having been drilled. The drilling of the Kingfisher-1 well on the shores of Lake Albert, and the subsequent acquisition of a 3D seismic survey over the Kingfisher structure, supported by extensive regional 2D data coverage on the Ugandan side of the lake, has enabled a start to be made on unravelling the history of this Neogene basin.

Seismic data, allied with regional earthquake, tectonic and outcrop data, have revealed the strike-slip nature of the basin-bounding faults, while 3D data in the Kingfisher area appears to show a complex history of alluvial fan development on the basin margins.

The use of high-resolution quantative palynology, the first time that such techniques have been applied in this area, has proved vital in understanding the climatic and depositional history of the sequence. The basin-infill sequence has proved to be younger than originally thought, comprising predominantly late Miocene through Holocene sediments, although seismic data has revealed hints of what may be an earlier Karoo Basin.

Palynological data collected from the Kingfisher and Turaco wells at the southern end of Lake Albert, and from outcrop samples, have enabled regional vegetation trends to be recognised and correlated to climatic cycles/changes, and has in turn provided a basis to establish a robust chronostratigraphic framework for these sequences, enabling accurate correlation across the southern Lake Albert area.

Although still at a very early stage in the life cycle of a petroleum province, the Albert Basin is showing the potential to be a world class example.

AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Cape Town, South Africa 2008 © AAPG Search and Discovery