El Nezzazat, Feiran and Abu Durba Heavy Oil Reservoirs, a Clue for Heavy Oil Reservoirs Potential at The Edges of The Gulf of Suez, Egypt

By

 Nabih Ahmed Nabih¹

(1) Petrobel Oil Company, Cairo, Egypt

 Unconventional crude oil production will expand as the production of conventional oil declines after the year 2020. Production from the richest portions of the largest unconventional oil resources is forecasted to increase as escalating oil prices permit profitable operations. This paper stresses the need to understand and re-evaluate the heavy oil reservoirs in El Nezzazat, Feiran and Abu Durba blocks as a clue for ascertaining the potentialities of heavy oil reserves at the edges of the present Gulf of Suez, Egypt.

The encouraging oil potentiality (proven oil of API gravity ranging from 11.4¡ to 19¡ in Miocene and pre-Miocene sandstone) of El Nezzazat, Feiran and Abu Durba blocks will add more oil reserves for the future shallow structure exploration phase. Heavy oil occurs in geologic settings, which are unconventional by accepted standards, yet they are economically interesting prospects in the light of modern methods of production. It is worth mentioning that the two main crude oils in the Abu Durba Recent sediments and the Kareem Formation sandstone, of well GS 277-1 have different nickel/vanadium ratio, indicating derivation from two different possible sources.