Offshore Essaouira Basin: Geology and Hydrocarbon Potential

Abstract

The study area lies in the offshore extension of the onshore Essaouria basin. The Mesozoic development of the Essaouira margin was largely controlled by Late Triassic to Mid-Jurassic rifting and subsequent opening of the Central Atlantic, with the evolution of a typical passive, opening of the Central Atlantic, with the evolution of a typical passive, continental margin. Diapiric salt structure recognized on seismic defines a Late Triassic-Early Jurassic salt basin in the offshore area initiated during early rifting. Subsidence and sea-level rise during Jurassic resulted in carbonate platform development. This was followed during Cretaceous and Tertiary time by the deposition of a prograding siliciclastic system. Only three wells have been drilled in this basin. Although drilled on poorly defined prospects, these wells encountered gas and oil shows. Fairly extensive seismic coverage of good quality data is now available. A study based on an integrated approach involving seismic facies definition and mapping, correlation with well data, identification of the principal control on sedimentation, and basin modeling in conjunction with source rock prediction and maturity modeling has been carried out. Results have shown that hydrocarbon potential in the offshore Essaouira basin has not yet been substantiated by drilling. Attractive structural and stratigraphicmore » prospects exist in the shelf, shelf edge, and the slope, and await confirmation by drilling.« less