Evaluation of Petroleum Source Rocks on the Coastal Area of the Western Taurus Region, Turkey

Abstract

The source-rock potential of the autochthonous Mesozoic carbonates in the western Taurus region of SW Turkey has been investigated. The core samples were obtained from three wells and belong to the Jurassic-Cretaceous Beydoglari units, including Beydagi and Kuyubasi formations. Two different compressional tectonisms influencing the source-rock maturation occurred during Upper Cretaceous and Lower Miocene. The Beydagi formation penetrated by the Demre-I well has a potential source-rock interval that has the capacity to generate oil. The geochemical log of the Kas-1 well shows that the Kuyubasi samples have poor source-richness. In the Kuyubasi-1 well, Rock-Eval pyrolysis data indicate that the Beydagi formation samples have high Tmax and low HI values, corresponding to thermally over-mature and gas-prone type III kerogen. Although surface samples from the Beydagi formation have high total organic carbon (TOC) values, ranging from 7.22 to 9.54% , their low Tmax values (<430°C) indicate that the samples are immature. The mass of petroleum expelled by the source rocks ranges from 2.01 to 46.90 mg Hc/g rock.