Geological and Petrophysical Characterization of Hawaz Sandstones Reservoir in ‚H' Oil Field, Murzuq Basin, SW Libya

Abstract

There are several basins with oil productive formations on the North African Platform. The Murzuq basin is one of them; it is situated in the south- west part of Libya and the northern portions of Niger, representing an intracratonic sag basin. It was initiated during the Palaeozoic Pan-African orogine. The deposition of the basin started with basal barren conglomerates of Hassaouna Formation unconformably overlying the Precambrian basement and being unconformably overlained by productive Hawaz Formation. The top of the Hawaz Formation is strictly demarcated by radioactive shales (lower Silurian Tanezzuft shales). The contact between top of the sedimental cycle of upper fluvial delta to shallow marine sea deposits and Silurian marine pelagic sediments documents an important palaeoclimatic change in sedimentary environment owing to Caledonian Unconformity. Silurian pelagic marine sediments represent an extensive marine flooding in all North-African Platform area. This flooding event of sea level rise was caused by melting and dissolving of the glacial material on the surrounding mountainous area during Caledonian unconformity, while this mountainous area transformed in peneplane. The present study is based on slabbed cores, core samples, and thin section; photographic of cores, conventional core...

There are several basins with oil productive formations on the North African Platform. The Murzuq basin is one of them; it is situated in the south- west part of Libya and the northern portions of Niger, representing an intracratonic sag basin. It was initiated during the Palaeozoic Pan-African orogine. The deposition of the basin started with basal barren conglomerates of Hassaouna Formation unconformably overlying the Precambrian basement and being unconformably overlained by productive Hawaz Formation. The top of the Hawaz Formation is strictly demarcated by radioactive shales (lower Silurian Tanezzuft shales). The contact between top of the sedimental cycle of upper fluvial delta to shallow marine sea deposits and Silurian marine pelagic sediments documents an important palaeoclimatic change in sedimentary environment owing to Caledonian Unconformity. Silurian pelagic marine sediments represent an extensive marine flooding in all North-African Platform area. This flooding event of sea level rise was caused by melting and dissolving of the glacial material on the surrounding mountainous area during Caledonian unconformity, while this mountainous area transformed in peneplane. The present study is based on slabbed cores, core samples, and thin section; photographic of cores, conventional core...