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AAPG Bulletin

Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 99, No. 2 (February 2015), PP. 231272

Copyright copy2015. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1306/06271413205

Geologic evolution of the Iraqi Zagros, and its influence on the distribution of hydrocarbons in the Kurdistan region

Joseph M. English,1 Grenville A. Lunn,2 Luke Ferreira,3 and George Yacu4

1Petroceltic International PLC, 3 Grand Canal Plaza, Upper Grand Canal Street, Dublin 4, Ireland; [email protected]
2Petroleum Geological Analysis Ltd, Clifton House, 23 Fauvel Road, Glossop, Derbyshire, SK13 7AR, England; [email protected]
3Hess Corporation, 1501 McKinney Street, Houston, Texas; [email protected]
4Ministry of Natural Resources, Kurdistan Regional Government, Erbil, Iraq; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Whereas the vast majority of discovered hydrocarbon reserves in Iraq reside in Cretaceous and Cenozoic reservoirs, numerous oil and gas fields have been discovered recently in deeper Jurassic and Triassic reservoirs in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. This study presents a Middle–Upper Jurassic thermal maturity map for the Kurdistan region of Iraq and demonstrates that regional first-order trends in Jurassic source rock maturity show a close correlation to the spatial distribution of oil gravities within the overlying Jurassic (and Cretaceous) reservoirs. This distribution is consistent with compartmentalization of the active source rock kitchens due to Zagros folding, resulting in relatively short-distance migration and charge of the anticlinal structures from the adjacent synclinal lows. The thermal maturity map confirms relatively low maturity over the Mosul high, where the Cretaceous and Cenozoic section overlying the source rock interval is relatively thin, and increasing maturity to the southeast as the thickness of the Cenozoic foredeep sediments increases toward the depocenter located in the southeastern Iraqi Zagros and the adjacent Iranian Zagros. The correlative trend in oil gravities is exemplified by the recent Jurassic discoveries: low to medium gravity oils (14–27° API) in Shaikan and Atrush to the northwest, light oil (39–47° API) in Mirawa and Bina Bawi, and gas condensate (55° API) in Miran West to the southeast. Understanding thermal maturity patterns and hydrocarbon fluid-type distributions will help to guide risk assessment for remaining prospectivity and future exploration drilling within the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

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