Geomagnetic Modeling for Zaafarana and Morgan Accommodation Zones in the Gulf of Suez Rift Basin, Egypt

Khamis Farhoud¹ and Salah Eldin Mousa^2
1Edison International, Cairo, Egypt
²Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

The Gulf of Suez in Egypt is a late Oligocene rift basin. It forms an elongated graben measuring about 320 km in length, characterized by complex graben/half graben system between two basement shoulders and dominated by normal faults. It has excellent hydrocarbon potential and contains more than 60 oil field.
The difficulty to acquire clear seismic imaging of the pre-salt section, has made the Gulf of Suez one of the few places where some wells have been drilled using aeromagnetic as primary data source. A good example is Hilal Oil Field in the "B" trend which is the crest of the SW-dipping long flank of Morgan and Gebel Zeit basins in the southern province of the Gulf of Suez.
The whole Gulf of Suez is covered by aeromagnetic survey with good specification in 13 sheets. Using advanced aeromagnetic data processing and leveling gave low pass frequency/long wavelength aeromagnetic maps for the whole Gulf of Suez. These maps enabled better mapping of seven offshore magnetic subbasins with complex regional dip regime changing from SW to NE across accommodation zones. Aeromagnetic maps recognized with high accuracy this change of the regional dip polarity and delineate the localization of subsurface Morgan and Zaafarana accommodation zones which separate the Gulf of Suez into three dip provinces presenting new geomagnetic modeling for these zones.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90072 © 2007 AAPG and AAPG European Region Conference, Athens, Greece