Structural development of the northern Sinai, Egypt and it's implications on the hydrocarbon prospectivity of the Mesozoic.

TLDR: In this article, a geochemical and fluid inclusion analysis from the Halal-1 and Fallig-1 wells and three Gebel Maghara coal mine boreholes document two rich gas-to mixed oil and gas-prone Jurassic source rocks.

Abstract: The Sinai Peninsula is defined by the tensional Gulf of Suez rift to the west, the left-lateral Dead Sea - Gulf of Aqaba rift to the east, and the Mediterranean passive trailing margin to the north. Wrench tectonics, culminating in the Late Cretaceous (Laramide), has long been proposed as the dominant structural force in the Sinai; however, much evidence exists to suggest that north-south to northwest-southeast compression associated with the Late Cretaceous Syrian Arc tectonic event resulted in deformation which is dominantly compressive in nature, including thin-skinned thrusts, detached box-folded packages, southward-verging asymmetric folds, overturned beds, and basement-involved forced folds. The structural evolution of the Sinai was extremely complex, with most structures having formed from a mix of compressional and right-lateral shear forces, commonly superimposed on an earlier structural fabric of extensional and/or strike-slip origin. In general, the more northern structures are increasingly compressional while the influence of wrenching increases to the south. Recent geochemical and fluid inclusion analyses from the Halal-1 and Fallig-1 wells and three Gebel Maghara coal mine boreholes document two rich gas-to mixed oil and gas-prone Jurassic source rocks. The source interval, previously unidentified in the Sinai, correlates to the Middle Jurassic-Khatatba Formation in Egypt's northern Western Desert, where numerous recent self-sourcing, self-sealing gas/condensate discoveries have been made. The presence of adequate source and reservoir rock along with the presence of numerous large structures expressed in the surface, provide several of the main elements required for a hydrocarbon play. Depth of burial/migration and seal/trap remain unproven; however, these should all be present in the northernmost Sinai.