Abstract
Three Total Petroleum Systems
each consisting of one assessment unit have been identified in the Ghaba
and Fahud Salt Basin Provinces of north-central Oman. One Total Petroleum
System and corresponding assessment unit, the North Oman Huqf/`Q'— Haushi(!)
Total Petroleum System (201401) and Ghaba-Makarem Combined Structural Assessment
Unit (20140101), were identified for the Ghaba Salt Basin Province (2014).
In the Fahud Salt Basin Province, however, two overlapping Total Petroleum
Systems (TPS) were recognized: 1) the North Oman Huqf — Shu'aiba(!)
TPS (201601); Fahud-Huqf Combined Structural Assessment Unit (20160101),
and 2) the Middle Cretaceous Natih(!) TPS (201602); Natih-Fiqa Structural/Stratigraphic
Assessment Unit (20160201). The boundary for each Total Petroleum System
also defines the boundary of the corresponding assessment unit and includes
all trap styles and hydrocarbon producing reservoirs within the petroleum
system.
In both the Ghaba and Fahud Salt
Basin Provinces, hydrocarbons were generated from several deeply-buried
source rocks within the Infracambrian Huqf Supergroup. One general `North
Oman Huqf' type oil is dominant in the Fahud Salt Basin. Oils in the Ghaba
Salt Basin are linked to at least two distinct Huqf source-rock units based
on oil geochemistry: a general North Oman Huqf-type oil source and a more
dominant `questionable unidentified-source' or `Q'-type Huqf oil source.
These two Huqf-sourced oils are commonly found as admixtures in reservoirs
throughout north-central Oman.
Hydrocarbons generated from Huqf
sources are produced from a variety of reservoir types and ages ranging
from Precambrian to Cretaceous in both the Ghaba and Fahud Salt Basin Provinces.
Clastic reservoirs of the Gharif and Al Khlata Formations, Haushi Group
(M. Carboniferous to L. Permian), dominate oil production in the Ghaba
Salt Basin Province and form the basis for the Huqf/`Q' — Haushi(!) TPS.
In contrast, the Lower Cretaceous Shu'aiba and Middle Cretaceous Natih
limestones account for |