The Benoud Trough is a foreland basin located on the south side of the Saharan Atlas Mountains, northwestern Algeria. The sedimentary column of the Benoud Trough is at least 4000 m thick and consists of a nearly complete section of Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks. It also contains several hundred meters of upper Cenozoic strata. Interpretations of several regional seismic sections have been integrated with data from the dozen existing wellbores in the Benoud Trough study area, which covers an area in size similar to that of Oklahoma. From these interpretations, basin-wide structure and interval isopach maps were constructed to depict the basin architecture and tectonic history. Geochemical source rock analysis and AFTA studies were used in the modeling of the hydrocarbon generative history of the basin.

Analysis and mapping of reservoir and seal rocks defined the effective areal limits of these critical factors. A critical events chart was constructed that illustrates the most likely grouping of sources, seals, reservoirs, trap ages, and migration events into viable plays by means of their chronological interrelationship. In this manner, four promising plays are suggested. These are the Upper and Lower Devonian sandstone plays, and the Carboniferous and Triassic sandstone plays. The spatial relationships of source, seal, reservoir, trap and migration pathways were integrated to produce fairway maps for each of these Benoud Trough plays.

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