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AAPG Bulletin
Abstract
AAPG Bulletin, V.
Petroleum generation and accumulation in the Berkine basin, eastern Algeria
Noureddine Yahi,1 Rainer G. Schaefer,2 Ralf Littke3
1Institute of Petroleum and Organic Geochemistry, Department of Chemistry and Dynamics of the Geosphere, Research Center
Julich, 52425 Julich, Germany; current address: Sonatrach, Exploration Division, Avenue du 1er Novembre, 35000 Boumerdes, Algeria; email: [email protected]
2Institute of Petroleum and Organic Geochemistry, Department of Chemistry and Dynamics of the Geosphere, Research Center
Julich, 52425 Julich, Germany; email: [email protected]
3Institute of Geology and Geochemistry of Petroleum and Coal, Aachen University of Technology, Lochnerstr. 4-20, 52056 Aachen, Germany; email: [email protected]
AUTHORS
Noureddine Yahi obtained his first academic degree in engineering, petroleum geology, from the Algerian Petroleum Institute in 1989. Between 1989 and 1996 he worked for Sonatrach as a petroleum geologist. From 1996 to 1999 he conducted a dissertation in geology under the guidance of D. H. Welte and R. Littke at the Institute of Petroleum and Organic Geochemistry, Research Center Julich, Germany. In 1999 he received his doctoral degree from the Department of Earth Sciences at Aachen University of Technology (RWTH Aachen), Germany. His scientific interests include organic geochemistry of petroleum and source rocks, as well as basin modeling studies.
Rainer Schaefer is a staff research scientist with the Institute of Petroleum and Organic Geochemistry at the Research Center (formerly KFA) Julich, Germany. He obtained his first academic degree in chemistry (Diplom-Chemiker) in 1967 at Freie Universitat, Berlin, and, in 1970, he received his doctoral degree after conducting a dissertation in chemistry on heterogeneous catalysis at Max-Planck-Institut fur Kohlenforschung, Mulheim/Ruhr, Germany. Since joining KFA Julich in 1975, he has published numerous articles on organic and petroleum geochemistry topics. His current research interests include the reaction kinetics of petroleum generation and the geochemistry of low molecular weight hydrocarbons.
Ralf Littke is a geologist who received a doctoral degree from the University of Bochum in 1985. In the same year, he joined the Institute of Petroleum and Organic Geochemistry at the Research Center Julich, where he worked until 1997. Since then he has been a professor at Aachen University of Technology (RWTH Aachen), where he leads the Institute of Geology and Geochemistry of Petroleum and Coal. Littke has published articles on organic sedimentology, organic petrology, organic and petroleum geochemistry, and numerical basin modeling. His current research interests are focused on maturation of sedimentary organic matter, generation and storage of coalbed methane, and the origin of hydrocarbon and nonhydrocarbon gases, as well as fluid flow and pressure buildup at active and passive continental margins.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Data and interpretations for this article were obtained in the framework of a scholarship study made possible by the exploration contract on Block 432, Hamadet El Guelta between Sonatrach and Veba Oel AG, Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Special thanks are due to D. H. Welte for his permission and support to carry out this study at the Institute of Petroleum and Organic Geochemistry (ICG-4) at Forschungszentrum Julich GmbH, as well as to H. S. Poelchau for important discussions on aspects of numerical basin modeling. We most gratefully acknowledge the support by Sonatrach, which allowed the use of data and samples, and for permission to publish this article. We also express our gratitude to Veba Oel AG for providing considerable financial support. Our thanks are extended to the management of Anadarko, Algeria, for the release of unpublished vitrinite reflectance data for thermal maturity calibrations. The preparation of the revised version benefited considerably from reviews by J. R. English, J. Flannery, K. E. Peters, and J. J. Sweeney, which we particularly gratefully acknowledge.
ABSTRACT
The Berkine (Ghadames) basin is regarded as an important hydrocarbon play in eastern Algeria. An evaluation of organic source facies, the application of petroleum geochemistry, and an extensive basin modeling study were carried out to improve the understanding of the petroleum charge of the basin. Geochemical data indicate that the Llandoverian-Wenlockian and the Frasnian hot shales are the most important oil-prone source rocks for the known hydrocarbon accumulations in the basin. Maturity data reflect the Late Cretaceous-Tertiary burial and are consistent with a 60-63 mW/m2 heat flow in the vicinity of the anticlines and 50 mW/m2 heat flow farther away from the folded area. A two-dimensional basin modeling study revealed the importance of poorly constrained parameters, such as the amount and rate of Hercynian erosion, on hydrocarbon generation and trapping efficiencies. The model shows that a Cretaceous-Tertiary petroleum generation and emplacement for both source rocks can better explain the different gas and oil fields than can an earlier, Hercynian event. The faults related to the Triassic-Jurassic rifting are most certainly permeable and can be considered as major migration
pathways for petroleum. In contrast, the overpressure that developed along the El Biod-Hassi Messaoud axis in the Ordovician reservoirs was probably caused by the low permeability of the faults bounding the anticlines that therefore prohibited any lateral or vertical fluid movements. The model also indicates two petroleum systems that have Triassic reservoirs: (1) a Frasnian-sourced system that is confined to the central part of the basin and (2) a Llandoverian-Wenlockian-sourced system in the western part of the basin.
Migration
into Paleozoic reservoirs was followed by dismigration into overlying Triassic traps after the Cretaceous compressive movements.
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