Structural characteristics and petroleum exploration of Levant Basin in Eastern Mediterranean

PETROLEUM EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT Volume 44, Issue 4, August 2017 Online English edition of the Chinese language journal Cite this article as: PETROL. EXPLOR. DEVELOP., 2017, 44(4): 573–581.

RESEARCH PAPER

Structural characteristics and petroleum exploration of Levant Basin in Eastern Mediterranean LIU Xiaobing1, 2,*, ZHANG Guangya2, WEN Zhixin2, WANG Zhaoming2, SONG Chengpeng2, HE Zhengjun2, LI Zhiping1 1. School of Energy Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China; 2. PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Beijing 100083, China

Abstract: By using geologic and seismic data, this study restored the proto-type basins and lithofacies paleogeography of the Levant basin in Eastern Mediterranean during main geological periods, carried out comparison analysis on the basin architecture characteristics, and based on careful examination of the characteristics of discovered gas reservoirs, established the reservoir forming pattern and discussed the favorable reservoir forming combinations and future exploration direction in this region. Three structural architectures can be identified in the basin, the early-stage faults, the mid-stage faults and the late-stage faults. The early-stage faults are mainly controlled by intercontinental depression, which were less influenced by later compression stress in the southern deep water area of the basin. Controlled by the lateral structural stress and the Syrian Arc Fold Belt, the mid-stage faults became less active from north to south and from east to west. Influenced by the collision and/or Dead Sea strike-slip Fault Zone, the late-stage faults were active but did not pierce the thick Upper Miocene evaporites. Combined with the discovered reservoirs and outcrops, the Mesozoic sandstones and carbonates in deep water area near Eratosthenes seamount of Israel offshore and the Cenozoic carbonates and Tamar sands of Lebanon offshore are the main petroleum exploration targets in the next step. Key words: Eastern Mediterranean; lithofacies paleogeography; basin architecture; Levant Basin; deep water sedimentation; petroleum exploration direction

1.

Introduction

Global deepwater large oil and gas fields discovered in the past five years are mainly located in passive continental margin basins[1] (Table 1). After Nobel Energy Inc. found the Tamar gas field in 2009 in the Levant basin of eastern Mediterranean (Fig. 1), major oil and gas discoveries have been made in this area successively[16], suggesting good exploration prospects of deepwater oil and gas in the basin. Similar to the passive continental margin basins in East Africa[78]. The Levant basin is low in overall exploration degree, and the existing oil and gas discoveries are mainly located in Israel offshore in the southern part of the basin, but the Lebanon offshore in the northern part of the basin has not been explored yet. Previous studies on the eastern Mediterranean mainly focused on the aspects such as regional geology[24, 912] and sedimentation[4, 1315], but rarely covered the basin evolution, tectonics, sedimentation and filling, and hydrocarbon accumulation characteristics, and the future exploration direction remains unclear. In this study, based on the analysis of the

prototype basin and restoration of lithofacies paleogeography in the Levant basin and the surrounding area. Through comparative analysis of tectonic features and dissection of reservoirs discovered in the basin, we have investigated the favorable plays and future exploration direction in this area, in the hope to provide references for the strategic target selection and new venture evaluation in deepwater area of passive continental margin with low exploration level and data acquisition difficulty.

2. 2.1.

Overview of the study area Exploration background

The exploration activities along the eastern Mediterranean coast started in 1968[1], mainly in the shallow water of the Nile delta basin to the west of the Levant basin. The Levant basin has a water depth of more than 1 000 m and a total area of 4.85×104 km2 (Fig. 1). Since the commercial drilling starting in 2008, there are 19 wells already, with a successful drilling rate of more than 80%. The Nobel Energy Inc., as the major operator, has found 7 commercial gas fields with cu-

Received date: 07 Jun. 2016; Revised date: 28 May 2017. * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] Foundation item: Supported by the China National Science and Technology Major Project (2016ZX05029). Copyright © 2017, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, PetroChina. Published by Elsevier BV. All rights reserved.

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Table 1.

Reserve statistics of deep water giant fields in passive continental margin from 2010 to 2015[1]

Region

Basin

Eastern Mediterranean

Levant basin Nile basin

Type

Field

Cyprus basin

Aphrodite

2011

1 689

1.29

Israel

Leviathan

2010

1 634

4.80

2013

649

0.72

2015

>2 000

5.01

2013

2 230

0.84

2010

2 100

6.43

Oil

2012 2011

2 027 1 964

0.72 8.32

Block 21

Oil

2012

1 744

0.82

Lontra

Gas

2013

1 275

1.06

Oil Oil, Gas

2012 2010

2 788 2 708

1.09 1.54

Gas

2012 2012 2013 2010 2012

1 690 2 261 2 492 1 548 1 027

13.18 2.58 1.24 6.19 4.74

Mzia

2012

1 639

1.30

Jodari

2012

1 295

1.02

Gas

Salamat

Egypt

Zohr Iara Entorno Buzios

Santos basin

Brazil

Kwanza basin

Angola

Campos basin

Brazil

Pao de Acucar BM-C-33

Mozambique

Mamba Coral Agulha Prosperidade Golfinho

Carcara Libra

South Atlantic

Ruvuma basin East Africa Tanzania Tanzanian basin

Oil, Gas

Tanzania

Tangawizi Lavani

Gas

Discovery year Water depth/m

Reserve/108 t

Country

2013

2 490

0.94

2012

2 490

0.94

Note: The PP reserve is oil equivalent and the same below

mulative proved and probable recoverable reserves of 0.91×1012 m3. Even so, this region is still low in exploration degree, and all of the discoveries are concentrated in the Israel offshore in the southern part of the Levant basin. The blocks with exploration wells cover an area of 0.33×104 km2, accounting for 6.8% of the entire basin[1]. 2.2.

Geologic settings

Since the Paleozoic, the African plate and the Arabian plate has been a part of the Gondwana land[16]. Till the Miocene, the Arabian plate gradually departs from the African plate from south to north along the Red Sea[17]. The eastern Mediterranean, including the Nile delta basin in the northeast of the African Plate and the Pleshet basin and the Levant basin in the northwest of the Arabian Plate (Fig. 1), have been in relatively stable tectonic environment since late Paleozoic[16, 18]. The Levant basin, bounded by the eastern Mediterranean normal fault zone and the eastern Mediterranean strike-slip fault zone, shows a wedge-shaped morphology from north to south (Fig. 1). The basin was formed in late Paleozoic and experienced a prototype basin evolution process of intra-continental faultdepression, intra-continental-inter-continental rift, and the passive continental margin, and contains mainly marine sediments (Fig. 2).

3. Proto-type basin evolution and lithofacies palaeogeography 3.1.

began to form gradually[16] and its southern part was called the Gondwanaland. As the rifting of the Gondwanaland continued through Phanerozoic, a number of small blocks coexisted, but not fully merged, with the Pangea supercontinent. Affected by the opening of the Paleo-Tethys ocean, extensional structures were developed at the north margin of the Gondwanaland (Fig. 2a). The fault-depression was formed with the sandstone sediment within the Levant basin in the north margin of the Gondwanaland. 3.2. Intra-continental-inter-continental rift prototype basin Since the Triassic, the eastern Mediterranean region has become a continuous sedimentary basin, the product of the separation of the Apulia-Turkey massif from the Africa-Arab continent. During late Triassic and early Jurassic, the earth crust within the craton started to expand along the present North African coast, forming the extensional faults, crossed the present Levant and Syria, and reached the margin of the Neo-Tethys Ocean (Fig. 2b), with the carbonate sediment. In the Jurassic, the Apulia block to the west of the Levant basin rotated and was separated from the African plate, leading to the formation of the Jurassic trough covering Egypt, Israel and Lebanon (Fig. 2c). The trough was dominated by the shallow marine carbonate and shallow-moderate marine mudstone[1] (Fig. 3). 3.3.

Intra-continental fault-depression prototype basin

Since the late Carboniferous, the Pangea supercontinent

Passive continental margin prototype basin

In the early Cretaceous, the eastern Mediterranean basin was 300400 km wide and became a small oceanic basin with

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bian plate and the Turkey block in the north, the supply of seawater in the eastern Mediterranean was disrupted, which, together with the hot and dry climate, intense seawater evaporation and scarce fluvial water injection, intensified the drying of the Mediterranean. As a result, the Neogene Messinian evaporite with a thickness of more than 1 000 m was formed (Fig. 3)[1415].

4.

Basin structure and sediment filling

Passive continental margin basins are generally sedimentary basins formed by the superposition of the early rifting period and the late passive drifting period[7, 21]. Based on the comprehensive analysis of the prototype basin, lithofacies paleogeography and seismic profile, the fault structures in Levant basin of eastern Mediterranean are divided into the early-stage faults, the mid-stage faults and the late-stage faults (Fig. 4). 4.1.

Fig. 1. Gas field distribution and regional structure map of Levant basin in eastern Mediterranean (Modified from References [1, 7-8, 10, 17-18]).

a central spreading ridge (Fig. 2d). In the middle and late stages of early Cretaceous, sea level rose and the carbonate rock overlaid the ancient mudstone (Fig. 3), forming limestone platform. In the early stage of late Cretaceous, limestone and organic-rich marls deposited in some regions (e.g. Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan) along the Mediterranean coast (Fig. 3). In the late stage of late Cretaceous, the Neo-Tethys Ocean began to close, forming an orogenic belt from Turkey to Oman (Fig. 2e-2g). Meanwhile, compression occurred in the platform from Syrian to Egypt, giving rise to the Syrian Arc Fold Belt trending NE-SW (Fig. 1, 2e-2f). In late Cretaceous, the Syrian Arc Fold Belt started to rejuvenate and gradually ceased in Oligocene. As the Syrian Arc Fold Belt resulted in the tectonic uplift (e.g. Judea) of the onshore of the eastern Mediterranean, with the increase of sedimentary provenance[17], the Oligocene-Miocene turbidite sandstone deposited in the deepwater area. In the late Miocene, due to the further collision of the Ara-

The early-stage faults

The early-stage faults, mainly normal faults, were formed over a long time span, including the intra-continental fault-depression and intra-continental-inter-continental rift prototype basin stage (Figs. 4b-4d and 5a-5b). The early-stage faults in the Lebanon offshore and the Israel offshore in the Levant basin are different to some extent: (1) The early-stage faults in the Lebanon offshore were largely influenced by the Alpine orogenic belt and did not stop activity in late Cretaceous. The faults formed in the early stage inversed, resulting in less development of early-stage faults (Figs. 4b). (2) In contrast, the early-stage faults in the Israeli offshore are slightly affected by the tectonism, and stopped activity in the middle-late Jurassic. In late Cretaceous, the Syrian Arc Fold Belt began to rejuvenate, and the near-offshore area was dominated by structural compression, leading to structural inversion (Figs.4c-4d). Since the late Permian, the rifting was extending from the southwest to the northeast in the eastern Mediterranean (Fig. 2a-2c). The sediment thickness in the southwest (Fig. 4c-4d) was larger than that in the northeast (Fig. 4a-4b). The upper Permian Sa’ad Formation and Arqov Formation in the Pleshet basin. In the coast of Israel are rich in organic matter and speculated to have hydrocarbon generation potential[22]. In the late Triassic, the eastern Mediterranean was dominated by carbonate sediments, with a thickness of 150600 m[19, 23]. In early Jurassic, clastic sediments deposited at the southern margin of the eastern Mediterranean due to sea level fall (Fig. 2c). The argillaceous limestone in the middle Jurassic Barnea Formation has been proven as the source rock of the Kokhav oilfield in the eastern margin of the Pleshet basin[24], and the Barnea Formation sandstone has been proven to be reservoir with small scale of reserves[1]. 4.2.

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The mid-stage faults

The early-stage faults activity might control the formation

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Fig. 2.

Prototype basin and lithofacies palaeogeography in eastern Mediterranean (Modified from References [4, 1213, 16, 19]).

and evolution of the structural belts or fault zones in middle-shallow formations[25], and give rise to fault structures. The mid-stage faults were formed in Paleocene-Miocene, beneath the Messinian evaporite. Because of the wedge-shaped features of the basin, the lateral tectonic stress generated in the compression/collision of the Arabian plate and Turkey block gradually decreased from north to south and from east to west. Therefore, the activity and distribution of the mid-stage faults are different: (1) laterally (E-W), the near-offshore area in the northern part of the basin was greatly affected by the lateral tectonic stress and the Syrian arc fold belt (Fig. 5c)[6], so faults are more developed in this area (Fig. 5d), forming fault-anticline trap structures. The far-offshore area was less affected by the tectonic stress (e.g. the Syrian Arc Fold Belt), so faults are not developed in

this area (Fig. 4b); (2) vertically (S-N), due to the fact that the lateral escape of the block is usually accompanied by continuous faulting on the plane, the mid-stage faults are speculated continuous on the plane. With the transition of tectonic stress weakening from north to south[26], the Israel offshore is less affected by the lateral tectonic stress than the Lebanon offshore in the north, so the faults are not well developed and the structures are mainly anticlines there (Fig. 4c-4d), which has been proven by exploration[1]. At the core of anticline, fractures are easy to form[27], which facilitate vertical migration of hydrocarbon. In the cretaceous, the sediment are mainly marine carbonate and mudstone with the continuous sea falling of the eastern Mediterranean. The marine mudstone in lower Cretaceous Gevaram Formation in Pleshet Basin, with a total organic

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4.3.

Late-stage faults

The late-stage faults mainly consist of near-offshore normal faults of the eastern Mediterranean and the far-offshore Levant reverse faults. Specifically, the Levant reverse faults are located above the Messinian evaporite. The Arabian plate and the Eurasian plate have been colliding and compressing, and the Dead Sea strike-slip fault zone and its western area are still escaping laterally[2], accompanied by continuous seismic activity[3]. However, due to the large thickness, the upper Miocene Messinian evaporite (>1 000 m) is only penetrated by the Latakia Ridge (Fig. 4a) in the Syrian offshore and the large far-offshore faults (Fig. 4b) in the Lebanon offshore, but not penetrated by the late-stage faults (Fig. 4a-4d and 5e). The Miocene mudstone caprock beneath the evaporite has been almost unaffected by the Levant inverse faults, so the Oligocene-lower Miocene gas reservoirs have not been damaged and been well preserved.

5.

Hydrocarbon accumulation and exploration

By 2015, the commercial discovery wells in the Levant basin all revealed sandstone gas reservoir[1]. Based on the above-mentioned studies, together with the characteristics of the discovered gas reservoir, the hydrocarbon accumulation model of the basin has been preliminarily established in order to find out favorable plays and future exploration direction in this area. 5.1.

Fig. 3. Regional stratigraphic map of Levant basin in eastern Mediterranean (Modified from References [1, 4, 17, 20]).

carbon (TOC) of 0.6%2.1% generally and type II kerogen, is the major source rock of the Helez-Kokhav oilfield in the eastern margin of the Pleshet basin[24]. The lower Cretaceous Yafe Formation sandstone has been proven the reservoir but with small scale of reserve[1]. In the early stage of late Cretaceous, limestone and organic-rich marls of up to 3 000 m thick deposited in some regions (Fig. 3) along the Mediterranean coast, which is the main source rock of the Levant basin. Since the Paleocene, the eastern Mediterranean is mainly deposited with mudstone. Affected by the Syrian Arc Fold Belt, sedimentary provenance is increasing, and the Oligocene-Miocene turbidite sandstone deposited in the deepwater area, forming the good reservoir. The mudstone thickness is large, forming the good regional seal of the Levant basin.

Major play

The Oligocene-Lower Miocene Play is the major play of the Levant basin. The gas reservoir is mainly distributed in the Oligocene-Lower Miocene Tamar sandstone with the Miocene mudstone as the main seal (Fig. 6). In the Pleshet basin, the existing oil and gas discoveries are the Jurassic and Cretaceous reservoirs[1]. The Mt. Scopus Group marl in the Dead Sea basin, to the east of Levant basin, is organic-rich source rock. Prototype basin evolution and seismic profile show the continuity of Cretaceous sediments in the E-W direction. The upper Cretaceous Mt. Scopus Group marl is the source rock of the Levant basin[1]. As the geothermal gradient is generally less than 35 C/km[7], the source rock has entered oil window and gas window at the burial depth of 4 km[2830]. The Oligocene-lower Miocene Tamar sandstone is good reservoir. In Well Tamar 1, the reservoir has a thickness of 140 m, an average porosity of 25% and an average permeability of 1 000×103 μm2[1]. The upper Miocene Ziqim Formation mudstone can serve as a regional cap (Figs. 3 and 4). On the seismic profile, there are Mesozoic tilted fault blocks and Cenozoic faulted anticline structures from bottom to top, in which the Tamar anticline structure is the main trap type of gas reservoirs discovered (Fig. 7). Since Cretaceous, the Levant basin has been dominated by passive continental margin sediment of carbonate, marl, and mudstone. Affected by collisional compression, regional faulting and the early-

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Fig. 4.

Structural features of four cross sections in Levant basin (See Fig. 1 for cross section location).

Fig. 5.

Tectonic and sedimentary evolution model of eastern Mediterranean.

stage faults, fractures[31] and caves[3233] might generate in the carbonate rock, and inverse structures might also occur[34]. The hydrocarbons generated from the upper Cretaceous Mt Scopus Group source rock could migrate vertically into the Oligocene-Lower Miocene Tamar sandstone (Fig. 7). 5.2.

Exploration directions

The Levant basin is influenced by the collision of the Arabian Plate and Euro-Asia Plate since Pliocene. The faults are

developed, but the Miocene Messinian evaporate over 1 000 m thick can protect the Miocene mudstone from the late-stage faults, which is good for the hydrocarbon preservation (Fig. 7). Thus, the Levant basin has good prospect in exploration. The Jurassic-Cretaceous sandstone and carbonate are deposited in the Levant basin, and the Middle Jurassic marl is the proven source rock within the Pleshet basin[24]. Jurassic and Cretaceous oil and gas reservoirs have been found in the onshore and shallow water of Israel (Fig. 8), with small

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Fig. 6.

Main play of Levant basin in eastern Mediterranean (Modified from References [1, 19]).

Fig. 7.

Petroleum accumulation map of Levant basin in eastern Mediterranean.

reserve scale[1]. Affected by the Syrian Arc Fold Belt, the strata in the Levant basin gradually thin or pinch out from deepwater to onshore (Fig. 4). On outcrop in the onshore part of the eastern Mediterranean, there are Jurassic, Cretaceous and Oligocene-Miocene formations (Fig. 8). Combining the prototype basin and seismic cross sections, we can infer the Jurassic, Cretaceous and Oligocene-Miocene sediment within the Levant basin. In the deep water of Israel adjacent to the Eratosthenes Uplift in the Levant basin, the Jurassic-Eocene strata are affected by the early-stage faults (Fig. 4c). The burial depth of sediment is less than the center of the basin, which means the Israel offshore where gas fields have been discovered. The source rock can migrate vertically along the early-stage faults to the potential reservoirs of the Jurassic-Cretaceous sandstone or carbonate, and the fault blocks and anticlines are the main trap types there. Thus, the Israel deepwater Mesozoic sandstone and carbonate has good prospect in exploration. The deep water of Lebanon is strongly affected by the Alpine tectonics, the activity of the early-stage faults continued to the Late Cretaceous, and the mid-stage faults are more developed than that of the Israel offshore. Therefore, the oil and gas generated by the Cretaceous Mt. Scopus Group source

rock might migrate along the early-stage and mid-stage faults vertically, and the Cenozoic carbonate rock and Tamar sandstone are the potential reservoirs. The faults or anticline structural traps are predominant there.

6.

Conclusions

The eastern Mediterranean Levant basin experienced intra-continental fault-depression, intra-continental-inter-continental rift and passive continental margin prototype basin stages, with the sandstone, carbonate and marl sediment. As a result of the intense uplift onshore of the eastern Mediterranean due to the compression of the Syrian Arc Fold Belt in late Cretaceous-Oligocene, there was a sufficient supply of provenance, resulting in the formation of the Oligocene-lower Miocene deepwater turbidite sandstone. The Levant basin consists of the early-stage faults, the midstage faults and the late-stage faults. The early-stage faults were mainly controlled by the intra-continental fault-depression, and the deepwater area in the south of the basin was less affected by the late compressive stress. In the wedgeshaped Levant basin, the compressive stress weakens from north to south and from east to west. The activity and distribution of the mid-stage faults differ both laterally and vertically.

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Affected by the collisional compression and the Dead Sea strike-slip fault zone, the late-stage faults have been active since the Pliocene, but have not penetrated the thick evaporite. Thus, the oil and gas reservoirs have not been damaged. The gas reservoirs in the Levant basin are mainly distributed in the Oligocene-lower Miocene Tamar sandstone and sealed by the Miocene mudstone, which is the major play in the basin. The passive continental margin basin is continuous stratigraphically in the E-W direction and structurally in the N-S direction. According to the changes of structural patterns, major efforts should be put in searching fault block traps on the top of the early-stage faults and anticlinal traps related to the mid-stage faults. In the future, the exploration should focus on the deepwater Mesozoic sandstone and carbonate adjacent to the Eratosthenes Uplift in the Israeli offshore and the deepwater Cenozoic carbonate and the Tamar sandstone in the Lebanon offshore.

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