Print this pageAAPG ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION
Making the Next Giant Leap in Geosciences
April 10-13, 2011, Houston, Texas, USA
Beni Suef Basin the Key for Exploration Future Success in Upper Egypt
(1) Qarun Petroleum Company, Cairo, Egypt.
The Beni Suef Basin is a relatively under-explored basin in N. Central Egypt. It lies approximately 150 km south of Cairo and is bisected by the present day Nile Valley.
It is currently believed that hydrocarbons, sourced from the Albian Lower Kharita (shales and siltstones) and Turonian Abu Roash F (carbonates), have been expelled and have subsequently migrated into up-dip structural closures along the margins of the basin.
The stratigraphic column of the Beni Suef Basin extends from the Pre-Cambrian granitic basement through the major Cretaceous reservoirs and seals and up into the Eocene Apollonia carbonates. Late Tertiary to recent deposition is also recorded within the ancestral Nile valley and along its margins. Some uncertainty exists as to the age of inception of the Beni Suef Basin and the extent of sedimentation within the basin prior to the deposition of the Lower Kharita shales. Current 3D seismic mapping is endeavoring to delineate more clearly these older sedimentary packages.
The Beni Suef Oil Field was discovered in September 1997 by Seagull Energy Corporation and was followed by the discovery of five additional oil fields - Azhar, Yusif, Gharibon, Lahun and Sobha by Qarun Petroleum Company.
Beni Suef Oil Field contains excellent reservoir quality rocks in both the Kharita and Bahariya Formations with additional reserves being calculated in the Abu Roash "A & G" Members . Due to some of the complex mineralogy observed in the Cenomanian Bahariya Formation a detailed petrophysical model was built using Schlumberger’s ELAN&IP software to ensure an accurate understanding of reservoir properties could be achieved. This petrophysical work combined with detailed sedimentological work has greatly aided the understanding of the field’s reserves distribution.
Recent geochemical work along with detailed mapping of newly acquired 3D seismic is greatly helping the delineation of the two potential source rocks and helping to formulate a clearer picture of hydrocarbon expulsion and migration within the Beni Suef basin. The results of this work may be applicable to the hydrocarbon potential of other basins such as the Minya and Asyut basins of Upper Egypt.