Research on the Tectonic Evolution of the North Africa from Morocco to Libya as the Controlling Factor on the Petroleum Basins' Hydrocarbon Accumulation

Abstract

This paper focuses on the tectonic evolution of the North African petroleum basins as the controlling factors on the major basins' formation, evolution and the hydrocarbon accumulation, analyzing the petroleum enrichment conditions and proposing hydrocarbon accumulation mode. The analysis concludes that the distribution of North Africa Basins is in regular east-west direction, clear depression associates with highland structure. The basins becomes gradually older from the west to the east, corresponding to the Western Paleozoic basin, the Middle part Paleozoic and Mesozoic superimposed basin and the Eastern Mesozoic-Cenozoic rift basin. Petroleum in the Middle-West basins is mainly controlled by western Hercynian tectonic movement with obvious NE - SW distribution character, while petroleum in the East basins controlled by the Alpine tectonic movement, showing NW-SE distribution. Experienced a number of north-south direction reversals, the Paleozoic basin developed in the South and the Mesozoic -Cenozoic superimposed basin overlaying the Paleozoic Basin located in the North. The basins have two different accumulation models, which are younger source rocks associated with the older reservoirs and the older source rocks with the younger reservoirs.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90267 ©2016 AAPG/SPE Africa Energy and Technology Conference, Nairobi City, Kenya, December 5-7, 2016