4 | Halliburton Landmark
Exploration Insights | 5
» Characterize reservoir presence
and quality using sediment scaling
relationships, structural and gross
depositional environment mapping, and
source-to-sink techniques
35°0'0"E
N
70
The Egyptian Red
Sea: Overlooked
Potential in a
Young Rift Basin
78
76
80
79
81
License Blocks 2019
Outcrops
Dry Holes
Depth
(km)
0
90
1
180
100
Oil Shows
Oil and Gas Shows
131 138
1D Model Section (Figure 3)
62
168
Continent-Ocean Boundary
Rift Axis
Transform Margin
Heat Flow Data Points (mW/m²)
2
75
105
siliciclastic plays preserved within the hanging
walls of basin-bounding faults, and in syn-rift
carbonate plays overlying outboard faulted highs.
Could the underexplored Egyptian Red Sea
margin represent a new exploration frontier?
Gas Shows
69
Oceanographic
90
3
Borehole
122
4
267
96
Saudi Arabia
75
5
25°0'0"N
154
161 106
25°0'0"N
181
171
Egypt
PETROLEUM SYSTEMS OF THE
EGYPTIAN RED SEA
A study of the Egyptian Red Sea was recently
carried out by Neftex ® Insights. Published
datasets and regional analogues were integrated
to produce a basin-scale assessment of the
presence, distribution, and potential risk on
individual petroleum systems elements in the
Egyptian Red Sea, based on analysis of reservoir
distribution and quality, hydrocarbon phase, and
timing of charge. Our objectives were to:
» Examine the influence of variation in
burial depth, salt thickness, and heat flow
upon charge risk using basin modeling
and sensitivity analysis, carried out in
Permedia ® petroleum systems modeling
software
6
165
144
114
7
83
89
190 98 176
205
494
121
8
9
90
10
123
109
10
100 km
Sudan
28
120
90
R e d
S e a
The northern Red Sea is a frontier deep-water
province that is bordered to the west and east
by the Egyptian and Saudi Arabian Red Sea
rift shoulders, structurally isolated from the
Gulf of Suez province to the north by the Dead
Sea-Aqaba transform (Figure 1). Despite this
separation, it forms a southerly extension to
the exploration-mature Gulf of Suez rift system,
and likely shares many of the key petroleum
system elements of this prolific hydrocarbon
province. Analogues from the Gulf of Suez
indicate significant potential in Nubian and syn-rift
International Boundaries
175
78 237
76
345
84
189
131
104 90
Aerial view of the Red Sea. Source: NASA.
Recent exploration success in the Eastern
Mediterranean has sparked renewed interest in
the greater surrounding region, highlighting its
potential as an emerging frontier for offshore
exploration and attracting significant attention
from international oil and gas companies. The
2019 GANOPE international bid round, which
opened in March 2019, included ten blocks in
the offshore Egyptian Red Sea, introducing new
investment opportunities to the region (Figure 1).
Legend
87
62
by: Sigrún Stanton and Natasha Dowey
THE NEXT EXPLORATION
FRONTIER?
Due to the presence of thick, intra-formational Early–
Middle Miocene shale and Middle–Late Miocene
salt, the presence of effective seals was considered
to have low potential exploration risk and was,
therefore, not evaluated as part of this study.
35°0'0"E
Figure 1> Basement relief map of the Northern Red Sea, emphasizing the structuration of the basin into a series of spatially diachronous
rifted sub-basins. The Northern Red Sea is divided politically into the Egyptian Red Sea (west) and the Saudi Arabian Red Sea (east).
Datasets used in this study are shown, including heat flow data from exploration wells and oceanographic sites (Pigott et al., 1996;
Cochran and Martinez, 1988), along with the locations of wells and outcrops from which data were extracted and analyzed. Two clear
trends can be observed in the heat flow datapoints: a gradual increase toward the south; and a more pronounced increase toward the
central rift axis.