The Dhahaban Petroleum System of Oman¹

Jos M. J. Terken² and Neil L. Frewin³

©Copyright 2000. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.
¹Manuscript received October 20, 1998; revised manuscript received August 13, 1999; final acceptance October 15, 1999.
²Petroleum Development Oman, Department XEM/6, P.O. Box 81, Muscat Postal Code 113, Sultanate of Oman. Present address: Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij, Department LAN/q, P.O. Box 1, 7760AA Schoonebeek, Netherlands; e-mail: [email protected]
³Petroleum Development Oman, Department XGS/2, P.O. Box 81, Muscat Postal Code 113, Sultanate of Oman.
We acknowledge the contributions of various PDO (Petroleum Development Oman) geoscientists, notably Ramon Loosveld, Peter Nederlof, Mike Naylor, Sarah Indrelid, and Pascal Richard. Steve Larter, Baz Bennett, and their colleagues at the Newcastle Research Group are thanked for geochemical analyses and discussions. Geochemists at Shell's research and technology group (SEPTAR) in The Netherlands are acknowledged for numerous reliable analyses over 20 yr and continuing discussions on Oman's petroleum systems. In particular, Math Kohnen, Wiekert Visser, Andy Bell, Dirk-Jan Simons, and Johan Buiskool Toxopeus are thanked for their extensive input. Gerard Demaison and two anonymous reviewers are thanked for their constructive reviews. We thank the Ministry of Oil and Gas of the Sultanate of Oman for permission to publish this paper.

ABSTRACT

The Dhahaban petroleum system, from a source rock of Cambrian age, covers some 50,000 km² and contains 1.6 X 10⁹ m³ of oil and 1000 X 10⁹ m³ of gas in place of which at least, respectively, 0.35 X 10⁹ m³ and 700 X 10⁹ m³ are recoverable. For many years, the origin of the so-called Q oil was enigmatic and defied typing to a source rock. Integration of recent advances in geochemistry and basin modeling has now permitted us to retrace its source areas, model the generation and migration histories, and outline the areal and stratigraphic extent of the petroleum system.