Geophysical and hydrocarbon prospect evaluation of Nukhul Formation at Rabeh East oil field, Southern Gulf of Suez Basin, Egypt

Mohammad Abdelfattah Sarhan

doi:10.1007/s13202-021-01204-3

Mohammad Abdelfattah Sarhan

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13202-021-01204-3

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Abstract

Nukhul Formation is one of the primary oil reservoirs in the Gulf of Suez Basin. Rabeh East is an oil producer field located at the southern border of the Gulf of Suez. The present work deals with the geophysical investigation of Nukhul Formation in Rabeh East field using seismic lines and well log data of four wells, namely RE-8, RE-22, RE-25 and Nageh-1. The interpreted seismic profiles display that the RE-8 Well is the only well drilled within the up-thrown side of a significant horst fault block bounded by two normal faults. However, the other wells penetrated the downthrown side. The qualitative interpretation of the well logging data for RE-8 Well delineated two intervals have good petrophysical parameters and ability to store and produce oil. These zones locate between depths 5411.5 and 5424 ft (zone I) and between 5451 and 5459.5 ft (zone II). The calculated petrophysical parameters for zone I display water saturation (22–44%), shale volume (10–23%), total porosity (18–23%), effective porosity (12–20%) and bulk volume of water (0.04–0.06). Zone II exhibits water saturation (13–45%), shale volume (10–30%), total porosity (18–24%), effective porosity (11–20%) and bulk volume of water (0.03–0.05). This analysis reflects excellent petrophysical characteristics for the sandstones of Nukhul Formation in Rabeh East oil field for producing oil if the wells drilled in a suitable structural closure.

Highlights

The Gulf of Suez is one of the oldest oil provinces all over the world
The structural fault blocks initiated at the rifting time represent the main hydrocarbon traps and control the petroleum accumulation in the Gulf of Suez oil fields (Chowdhary and Taha 1987; Sultan 2002)
The syn-rift Miocene sandstones hold approximately 60% of oil reserves in the Gulf of Suez Basin, and the residual is mostly present in the Nubia Formation (Peijs et al 2012)

Summary

Introduction

The Gulf of Suez is one of the oldest oil provinces all over the world. The Gulf of Suez Basin extends around 325 km from the north-western end of the Red Sea to the north direction between Sinai in the east and Eastern Desert in the west (Patton et al 1994; El Nady et al 2016) occupying an area about 19,000 k m2. Keywords Geophysical evaluation · Well logging · Seismic interpretation · Nukhul Formation · Rabeh East oil field · Gulf of Suez Basin The current work aims to conduct a geophysical assessment of the Nukhul Formation in order to add new reserves to the existing reservoirs in Rabeh East field.

Results

Conclusion