Exploration of new hydrocarbon leads in the eastern flank of Abu Gharadig Basin, North Western Desert, Egypt

Abstract

The present study aims to understand better the structural elements controlling the hydrocarbon potentiality and productivity for the upper Cretaceous reservoirs in the Eastern flank of the Abu Gharadig Basin in the Western Desert of Egypt. The major sandstone reservoirs in this area are found within Abu Roash “G” Member and Upper Bahariya Formation, characterized by lateral facies changes with major structure uncertainty and unleashed hydrocarbon potential. Therefore, we aimed to identify the lateral distribution of the studied reservoirs regionally in Abrar, Ferdaus, Ganna, Rawda, Sidra, and Rayan fields at the North Bahariya Concession and Aqsa and Yamma-SE fields at the East Bahariya Concession through integrated geological and geophysical studies for further exploration activities in this area. As a result, we produced regional depth contour maps covering most of the producing fields with the lateral distribution of hydrocarbon occurrences through the area. Moreover, the petrophysical parameter maps for the Middle and Lower Abu Roash “G” reservoirs, such as net pay thickness, shale volume, effective porosity, and hydrocarbon saturation are prepared to understand the hydrocarbon potentiality. This, in turn, allowed us to determine nine promising structural traps for future exploration with high certainty.