Geophysical appraisal and hydrocarbon potential of the Pre-Cenomanian and Miocene reservoirs in the onshore and offshore Gulf of Suez Basin

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to geophysically assess the petroleum potential of the Pre-Cenomanian (Nubia sandstones) as well as the Miocene oil reservoirs in the Rabeh field and Edfu-Saqqara field, located in the Gulf of Suez Basin. This will serve as a supplementary source for future exploration in the onshore and offshore Gulf of Suez Basin. This research utilizes the wireline logs of twelve drilled wells, eight of them drilled in Rabeh field, onshore southern Gulf of Suez Basin (RE-8, RE-22, RE-25, RE-2, RE-4, Nageh-1, South Malak-1 & Tawoos-1) and the rest four wells (Edfu A-3, Edfu A-5A, GS323-1 A & GS323-4 A) drilled in Edfu-Saqqara field, offshore central Gulf of Suez Basin. Moreover, twenty seismic profiles covering the Rabeh field were structurally interpreted. This interpretation exposed that the basement rocks are severely intersected by numerous NW–SE normal faults, along with minor E–W faults. The presence of these faults has a great role in forming suitable structural traps for holding hydrocarbon. Based on the qualitative and quantitative appraisal of the well logging data, Nubia, Nukhul and Rudies formations display positive petrophysical signs for being a potential reservoir in the studied fields. These reservoirs display respectable net pay thickness varying between 21 and 550 ft (i.e. 6.5–166.5 m), good net-to-gross ratio (0.01–0.90), excellent effective porosity (0.12–0.20), little shale content (0.03–0.20), minor water saturation (0.05–0.40) and high hydrocarbon saturation (0.60–0.95). The created lateral distribution maps for the considered petrophysical parameters in the Rabeh Field suggest that the drilling efforts should be essentially directed in the southeastern side of the Rabeh field to access the high-quality Nubia sandstone reservoirs.