Geological structure, sedimentary environments and oil and gas potential of Oligocene-Miocene and Pliocene-Pleistocene deposits in the Levant basin

Abstract

An extensive sedimentary-rock basin is located within the continental margin of the Levant, where, since 2008, numerous natural gas fields have been discovered, including Tamar, Tannin, Dalit and Leviathan in the offshore zone of Israel, and Aphrodite in the zone of economic interests of Cyprus. Deposits of biogenic methane, located in the deep-water Levantine depression, are confined to terrigenous sandstones of late Oligocene-Early Miocene age. The discovery of another gas field Zohr in 2015 in the area of the underwater uplift of Eratosthenes caused a real boom among petroleum geologists. The fact is that natural gas deposit with reserves of about 30 trillion cubic feet is not in the terrigenous, but carbonate reservoir of the reef genesis, which opens significant prospects for the discovery of new large gas accumulations in the area of this major uplift. All the above-mentioned deposits are located in the same range of sea depths (1600-2000 m) in the propagation zone of the Messinian evaporites, that serves as a regional screen. An analysis of the materials currently published suggests that in the epochs of the sediments formation in which gas deposits are located, the depths of the seabed in the southern regions of the Levant depression were significantly lower compared to modern ones. Currently, there is no doubt that in the Levant region there is the largest gas-bearing basin in the Mediterranean region, with gas reserves of several hundred trillion cubic feet.