An Introduction to the Petroleum Geology and Stratigraphy of the Arabian Gulf Basins
Background:
This course is designed for those Kuwaiti petroleum professionals who wish to become more informed about the petroleum geology of the oil and gas-bearing basins of the Arabian Gulf, the world's most important petroleum realm. The area covered in this course will increasingly dominate world petroleum supplies... it runs from Iraq in the far north of the Arabian Gulf down to the Sultanate of the Oman in the south, (included are some remarks on the petroleum geology of Turkey and Syria)
Course outline:
This one-week course covers the structural evolution of the Arabian Gulf basins in a dynamic sense as well as integrating the major structural elements into the tectono-stratigraphy of the region. The course is naturally subdivided into five parts by the five Phanerozoic mega-sequences and their associated petroleum systems in which the oil and gas of the basins is generated and found. Finally a review of key oil and gas fields is presented, hopefully showing how and why the Arabian Gulf area is host to so much of the world's oil and gas
Course table of contents
- The Tethyan petroleum realm, the Arabian Plate and its major tectonic elements, their geologic history and development
- The Arabian-Iranian mega-basin and the tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the Arabian Gulf petroleum systems (source rocks, reservoirs, cap-rocks and traps)
- Mega-sequence One, Proterozoic, Eo-Cambrian (Vendian) to Cambrian tectono-stratigraphy, structural development and petroleum systems, principally revealed in the Oman but indicating also the petroleum possibilities inherent in other parts of the Arabian Gulf in this mega-sequence
- Mega-sequence Two, Cambrian to Carboniferous tectono-stratigraphic evolution and its clastic petroleum systems, their petroleum potential in the Arabian Gulf and a correlation with those sequences so productive in north Africa
- Mega-sequence Three, the Permo-Triassic (Khuff) mega-sequence, its tectono-stratigraphy and petroleum systems, the onset of major carbonate deposition in the Arabian Gulf basins, the mega-reserves within this sequence in Iran and in the central Arabian Gulf and their implications for petroleum exploration elsewhere in Arabia and in Mesopotamia
- Mega-sequence Four, the Jurassic to Mid Cretaceous most of the reserves of the Arabian Gulf (including those in the world's largest carbonate and clastic fields) are hosted in Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks of this mega-sequence. Their tectono-stratigraphic evolution as well as their petroleum systems will be discussed in detail as well as the lessons that they present for exploration elsewhere in the Arabian Gulf.
- Mega-sequence Five, Mid Cretaceous to the Present Day, this mega-sequence is the second most important in the Arabian Gulf. It is where the first petroleum reserves of the Arabian Gulf were discovered by British oil companies in the early days of the twentieth century over a hundred years ago. The tectono-stratigraphic evolution and petroleum systems of this mega-sequence will be described in detail and the implications that it holds for further exploration in the Arabian Gulf...deep water offshore for example.
- The Habitat of Oil and Gas... this section of the course will describe key oilfields which hold the key to the petroleum systems of the Mega-sequences listed above...
- Mega-sequence One... the Eocambrian oilfields of the Oman as models for further exploration elsewhere in the Arabian Gulf
- Mega-sequence Two... the younger Palaeozoic of the Arabian Gulf and its comparison with the super-giant oil and gas-fields of North Africa
- Mega-sequence Three... the Khuff gasfields of Iran and of the central Arabian Gulf
- Mega-sequence Four... the Mid Cretaceous and Jurassic oilfields of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
- Mega-sequence Five... the Asmari oilfields of Iran and the Cretaceous-Tertiary oilfields of Iraq