Source Rock Distribution and Thermal Maturity in the Southern Arabian Peninsula

Recent work by Phillips Petroleum in the Southern Arabian Peninsula has elucidated the source potential of the Palaeozoic strata. A group of newly drilled and older wells, together with exclusive and non-exclusive reports, have been used in order to develop improved maturation and migration models for emerging plays, and to gain a better understanding of the subsidence and maturation history of this large and diverse area. It has been possible to conduct comprehensive burial history modelling for a number of wells from Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. This, together with the modelling of hypothetical wells derived from depth structure maps, has improved our understanding of oil- and gas-prone source rocks in the Cretaceous, Jurassic and Palaeozoic strata. The resultant maturity distribution has been developed with the aid of a more detailed structural model for the Southern Arabian Peninsula. In tandem with this study, available cores and cuttings were analysed to measure source rock total organic carbon, maturity and richness parameters and summarised using proprietary techniques. It is concluded that the Jurassic Hanifa Formation is less mature and not source facies to the south and west of the Rub’ Al-Khali. The oil and gas mature source facies is present in the north and east of the Rub’ Al-Khali and in the Western Emirates. In addition, it is concluded that the oil mature Silurian source facies is confined to the narrow southern and western margins of the Rub’ Al-Khali. Outside this area the overmature area is in the core of the Rub’ Al-Khali extending northeast to the United Arab Emirates. The remaining area is modelled as gas mature in western Saudi Arabia and Qatar.