Characterization and correlation of crude oils from some wells in the North Western Desert, Egypt

Abstract

ABSTRACTCharacterization and correlation of crude oils from some wells in the North Western Desert, based on six crude oil samples, were studied by different analytical techniques, including API gravity, sulfur content, nickel and vanadium, bulk compositions and saturated fraction obtained from gas chromatography have been studied. The results show that the crude oils are normal to medium aromatic oils, with high API gravity and high sulfur content. V, Ni, V/Ni and V/(V + Ni) reflecting oils might be sourced from non-clastic source rocks, possibly carbonates, deposited under anoxic-suboxic conditions. Bulk compositions revealing that the crude oils were derived from marine organic sources. While, the paraffins and naphthenes percent indicates that the oils belong to paraffinic to naphthenic oil types, deposited in slightly anoxic to suboxic conditions and contained marine organic matter. Thermal maturity data showed that the oil samples were generated from mature source rocks. This indicates the studied oil samples are well correlated with each other, where they are similar in their oil type maturation and source depositional environments.