Basin Inversion and Mesozoic HC Potential Offshore N. Sinai - Egypt

By

 Maher H. Ayyad¹

(1) BG - Egypt, Cairo, Egypt

 Mesozoic rocks play a significant role in the hydrocarbon system on the NE African shelf. Sediments are widely distributed, in time and space, over the entire region and are found to be Oil and Gas bearing in some places. The Early Mesozoic (Triassic - Early Cretaceous) sediments were deposited under an extensional tectonic regime in separate half-grabens. The sequence comprises source, reservoir and seal type rocks favourable for working hydrocarbon systems. The Syn-rift clastics, derived from the south, built fan deltas of variable geometries. Following a prolonged episode of transpressional stresses, the depocenters inverted and intermittent erosion, with variable magnitudes, took place. Younger sediments successively on-lapped the truncated surfaces of the Syn-rift sequence. The regional Mesozoic basin is bounded from the north by the so-called Pelusium line, in the offshore and runs almost parallel to the coastline. It approximately coincides with the northern bounding faults of the Goliath, Mango, NS-21 and Tineh inverted trend. Successive interaction of such tectono-stratigraphic events obviously disrupted the hydrocarbon system and the entrapment set-up, one way or another, within the involved sequences.

A thorough examination and clear understanding of the geologic history of such highly deformed features have been highlighted and proved essential in assessing the effectiveness of entrapment mechanisms, thus minimizing exploration risks.