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A reservoir comparison of the Ghawar and North dome/South Pars Fields, world largest oil and gas reservoirs

Behrooz Esrafili-Dizaji

MAPSA Co. Petroleum Engineering Department

Fig. 1) Locations of the world largest oil (Ghawar) and gas (North Dome/South Pars) fields .

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Reservoir Location

World largest oil (Ghawar) and gas (North Dome/South Pars) fields are located in the Persian Gulf Basin (Fig. 1). Reservoir basic data of these fields for comparison are summarized in table.1

Reservoir Structures

Both reservoirs, Ghawar and North Dome/South Pars, have huge anticlinal structures with similar trends.

In the Persian Gulf Basin, structures that trap hydrocarbons in these systems are mostly (1) large, gentle anticlines formed from reactivated basement fault blocks. These North-trending highs as exemplified by the En Nala (Ghawar) anticline and the Qatar Arch (North

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Dome/South Pars). (2) Salt domes that resulted from halokinesis, or (3) Structural traps resulting from a combination of these two processes (Al-Jalal and Alsharhan, 2005; Pollastro, 2003) (Fig. 2).

Northerly trends that comprise these structures are interpreted as reflecting the Precambrian basement architecture. The structures along the Central Arabian Arch may have originated during the Amar Collision (640–620 Ma) of the Rayn Plate (in the east) with the Arabian-Nubian Craton (in the west), and the ensuing Najd Rift (570–530 Ma) (Al-Husseini, 2000). Some of the well-known northerly structural trends are the Summan Platform, Dibdibah Trough, Khurais-Burgan Anticline, En Nala (Ghawar-Safaniya) Anticline, and the Qatar Arch (Ziegler, 2001).

References:

Al-Husseini, M.I., (2000). Origin of the Arabian Plate structures: Amar Collision and Najd Rift, GeoArabia, v. 5, no. 4, p. 527–542.

Al-Jalal, A.I., Alsharhan, A.S., 2005. Arabia and the Gulf. Elsevier, 140-152pp.

Alsharhan, A.S., Nairn, A.E.M., (1997). Sedimentary Basins and Petroleum Geology of the Middle East. Elsevier, Netherlands. 843 pp.

Ehrenberg, S.N., Nadeau, P.H., and Aqrawi, A.A. M., (2007). A comparison of Khuff and Arab reservoir potential throughout the Middle East. AAPG; Bulletin, 86. 1709–1732.

Konert, G., Afifi, A.M., AL-Hajari, S.A., Droste, H., (2001). Paleozoic stratigraphy and hydrocarbon habitat of the Arabian Plate. GeoArabia. 6, 407–442.

Pollsatro, R.M., Total Petroleum Systems of the Paleozoic and Jurassic, Greater Ghawar Uplift

and Adjoining Provinces of Central Saudi Arabia and Northern Arabian-Persian Gulf. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2202-H. 107pp.

Ziegler, A.M., Hulver, M.L., Rowley, D.B., (1997). Permian world topography and climate, In: I.P. Martini (Editor), Late glacial and postglacial environmental changes; Quaternary, Carboniferous-Permian, and Proterozoic, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 111-142.

Ziegler, M., (2001). Late Permian to Holocene Paleofacies Evolution of the Arabian Plate and Its Hydrocarbon Occurrences, GeoArabia, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 445–504.

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Table. 1) Field data of the Ghawar and North Dome/South Pars Fields.

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Fig. 2) Structure of the Ghawar and North Dome/South Pars reservoirs (Modified after Konert et al., 2001).

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Fig. 3) Paleogeography and Paleofacies map of Khuff (North Dome/South Pars) and Arab (Ghawar) reservoir intervals (After Ehrenberg et al., 2007; Ziegler et al., 1997).