Iraqi Kurdistan All in the Timing

Exploration
Salt facies anomaly within the Triassic carbonate and evaporite facies in
north-east Jordan. After Naylor, et al., 2015.
four wells drilled to date in the East Safawi block (RH-1, RH-2,
RH-11 and RH19).
The middle section of the Triassic (top Um Tina to top Ma’in)
comprises a varied limestone sequence with interbeds of shale
Courtesy Petrel Resources plc
and dolomite. Porosity and reservoir potential are low, with the
exception of parts of the Mukheiris Formation seen in wells
RH-1 and RH-19. The logs show the porosity to be very variable,
ranging from zero to as high as 30% for some intervals in RH-19.
Wells RH-1 and RH-2 show only limited higher porosity streaks
that give an average porosity of around 14% over a net section of
4–10m. RH-11 has more potential but this is restricted mainly to
the Mukheiris interval where the average porosity is around 20%
over 15m; the other intervals on this well are similar to RH-1
and RH-2. RH-19 has higher porosity within the Um Tina, Iraq
Al-Amir and Hisban than the other wells, but the sequence also
appears to be more interbedded with shale.
Again, although there is reservoir potential, little evidence
of hydrocarbons was reported from this section. The well
report for RH-1 records some ‘uneven bitumen distribution’
within this part of the section. No shows are reported for
RH-19 but the logs appear to suggest some definite potentially
movable hydrocarbon-bearing intervals within the Mukheiris.
The upper part of the Triassic section in northern Jordan (Abu
Ruweis Formation) consists mainly of dolomites with interbeds
of anhydrite and salt. The log responses do not indicate the
presence of hydrocarbons within this interval in any of the wells.
Bitumen has been recorded at several levels in the Triassic.
In the RH-1 and RH-2 it occurs patchily in the upper Abu
Ruweis and more consistently through the lower Abu Ruweis,
Um Tina and Iraq Al-Amir Formations, and into the top of the
Mukheiris Formation. There are records of bitumen throughout
the Hisban Formation, but little in the Ma’in Formation.
These Jordanian formations can be compared to the Meged
oil field in Israel, where the main reservoir is the Upper
Triassic Mohilla Formation, which is divided into three
different members. From oldest to youngest these are known
as Mohilla ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’. The Mohilla Formation is correlative
Anne Whaley Sousou
Countryside in north-west Jordan, where the North
Highland wells are located – very different to the flat
desert scenery further east in the Safawi block.
56 GEOExPro November 2015