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Source Rocks Evaluation of Sidi Salem-1 Well in the Onshore Nile Delta, Egypt
M. M. El Nadya; F. M. Harba a Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, Nasr City, Hei Al-Zehour, Cairo, Egypt Online publication date: 03 August 2010

To cite this Article Nady, M. M. El and Harb, F. M.(2010) 'Source Rocks Evaluation of Sidi Salem-1 Well in the Onshore

Nile Delta, Egypt', Petroleum Science and Technology, 28: 14, 1492 1502 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/10916460903096848 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10916460903096848

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Petroleum Science and Technology, 28:14921502, 2010 Copyright Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute ISSN: 1091-6466 print/1532-2459 online DOI: 10.1080/10916460903096848

Source Rocks Evaluation of Sidi Salem-1 Well in the Onshore Nile Delta, Egypt
M. M. EL NADY1 AND F. M. HARB1
1

Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, Nasr City, Hei Al-Zehour, Cairo, Egypt
Abstract Ten core samples representing the subsurface formation of Sidi Salem well No. 1, in the onshore Nile Delta, Egypt. The samples were subjected to comprehensive organic geochemical studies (such as rock-eval pyrolysis, gas chromatograph [GC] and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry [GC-MS]) aiming to evaluate potential source rocks, organic matters types, depositional environments, and maturation. The results revealed that the source rocks in the drilled sections are marginally mature to mature zone and have fair to good potential for generating oil and gas. These rocks are dominated by organic matter derived mainly from mixed organic matters (marine and terrestrial) with contributions from algae and bacteria deposited under anoxic to suboxic saline environments. Keywords Egypt, GC, GC-MS, onshore Nile Delta, pryolysis, Sidi Salem-1 well

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Introduction
The Nile Delta basin contains potential hydrocarbon source rocks that are generated essentially from gas and condensates. Although the Nile Delta has been predominantly considered as an important gas province, the analyses of potential source rocks in the Miocene sequences have indicated the presence of oil in a number of wells, which may indicate the possible presence of commercial oil occurrence (Abdel Halim, 2001). The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC, 1994) suggested that the Oligocene Miocene sediments include the best source rocks in the northern Delta as indicated from total organic carbon (TOC) and Rock-Eval pyrolysis data. This region is divided into two subprovinces: the South Nile Delta block and the North Nile Delta basin separated by exure zone (Zaghloul, 1976). The South Delta block is characterized by a gradual northward dip of top Middle Eocene carbonates. The North Delta basin is characterized by two main structure patterns, deep pre-Tortonian and shallow post-Meissinian fault patterns. The Nile Delta basin has been initiated by structures occurring in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic times in successive tectonic events that took place since the Paleozoic and mainly include (1) E-shears in the Mesozoic times and rejuvenated during the Tertiary; (2) NE-SW Palusium shear during the TriassicJurassic time onward associated with opening of the Tethys; (3) ENE Syrian Arc movements in the Late CretaceousEarly Tertiary associated with closure of the Tethys; (4) Tertiary transform faults including
Address correspondence to Mohamed M. El Nady, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, Exploration Department, Ahmed El Zumer Street, Nasr City, Hei Al-Zehour, Cairo, 11727 Egypt. E-mail: elnady1963@live.com

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Figure 1. Key map showing the location of Sidi Salem-1 well, onshore Nile Delta, Egypt.

the NNW Gulf of SuezRed Sea rift, the NNE Aqaba rift, and the N-S Baltim rift in addition to offshore NE Rosetta and NE Temsah faults are mostly rejuvenated of preTertiary structures (Zaghloul et al., 2001). The geochemical studies of the Nile Delta have discussed by Zein El Din et al. (1988), Abu El-Ella (1990), Helmy and Fouad (1994), Halim et al. (1996), Kamel et al. (1998), Metwalli (2000), Hammad (2000), and El Nady (2006, 2007). The Sidi Salem-1 well is situated in the northwestern part of the Delta (lat. 30 190 00 10 N and long. 30 340 1600 E, Figure 1). The lithology and stratigraphic subdivision of the Sidi Salem subsurface section is illustrated in Figure 2. Ten core samples are available from this section. Their depths and lithologic descriptions are suggested by the International Egyptian Oil Company. Core No. 1 It is clayey calcareous sand (mainly sand, minor carbonate and clay) Core No. 2 It is calcareous sand mudstone to shale (mainly clay, carbonate and sand) Core No. 3 It is sandy calcareous shale (mainly clay, minor carbonate and sand) Core Nos. 410. They are sandy calcareous mudstone (mainly shale, minor carbonate and sand) The present work aims to throw more light on the subsurface source rocks evaluation of El Wastani, Kafer El Sheikh, Abu Madi, and Sidi Salem formations in Sidi Salem-1 well (Figure 2). The authors also discuss the molecular geochemical characteristics of these source rocks to predict their possible organic sources as well as their paleo-depositional environment.

Materials
Ten core samples representing the subsurface formation of Sidi Salem well No. 1, in the onshore Nile Delta, have been kindly supplied by the International Egyptian Oil Company: Core No. 1 from El Wastani Formation, Core Nos. 25 from Kafer El Sheikf Formation, Core No. 6 from Abu Madi Formation, and Core Nos. 710 from Sidi Salem Formation (Figure 2).

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Figure 2. The compiled lithology and stratigraphic subdivision of Sidi Salem-1 well subsurface section, onshore Nile Delta, Egypt.

Techniques 1. Rock-Eval pyrolysis was performed using a LECO CR 12 organic analyzer. Samples were Soxhlet extracted using chloroform. The extraction was fractionated using opencolumn liquid chromatography to saturates, aromatics, and asphaltenes. 2. Gas chromatographic analysis of the saturated hydrocarbon fractions of some core samples was achieved using a Perkin Elmer Instrument Model 8700 (Waltham, MA) provided with a ame ionization detector (FID). Oven temperature was programmed for 100 C to 320C at 3C/min and nal time 20 min. The SPB-1 capillary column was 60 m in length. Nitrogen was used as carrier gas; the optimum ow rate was 6 mL/min.

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3. Gas chromatographymass spectrometry (GC-MS) used a 50 m 0.25 mm fused silica capillary column of bonded SE 54 installed with a Finnigan MAT TSQ-70 combined gas chromatography/quadrupole mass spectrometer (Waltham, MA). The column oven was programmed from 100C to 310C at 4 C/min. Pyrolysis and gas chromatographic analyses of the source rocks were done in the laboratories of the Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI). Gas chromatography mass spectrometric analyses were done in the laboratories of the StratoChem (Cairo).

Results and Discussion

Rock-Eval Pyrolysis
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In Sidi Salem-1 well, the El Wastani Formation possesses fair organic richness with TOC value of 0.56 wt% and poor generative potential with S2 value of 0.41 (mg HC/g rock; Table 1, Figure 3a). The organic matter of this formation included gas-prone kerogen (Figure 4) with hydrogen index value (HI) of 73 mg HC/g TOC and quality index (S2/S3) of 0.46 (Table 1). Total organic carbon content of Kafer El Sheikh Formation varies from 0.52 to 0.76 wt% (Table 1), indicating fair organic richness (Figure 3a). The pyrolysis-derived S2 values are 0.38 to 0.40 (mg HC/g rock; Table 2), indicating poor generating potential (Figure 3b). The hydrogen index values (HI) of 53 to 77 mg HC/g TOC and quality index (S2/S3) ranging from 0.45 to 0.60 (Table 1) indicate that the shales of Kafer El Sheikh Formation contain mainly type III kerogen (mainly gas-prone organic matter; Figure 4). Abu Madi Formation has a TOC content of 0.54 wt%, S2 value of 0.54 (mg HC/g rock), HI value of 100 mg HC/g TOC, and S2/S3 ratio of 0.60 (Table 1), indicating fair organic richness and poor generating potential to generate gas and minor oil, respectively (Figures 3a, 3b, 4). Table 1 Pyrolysis analyses of the Sidi Salem-1 well, onshore Nile Delta, Egypt a
Core no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Depth, m 1004 1288 1698 2120 2440 2725 2990 3324 3466 3660 Formations El Wastani Kafer El Sheikh Kafer El Sheikh Kafer El Sheikh Kafer El Sheikh Abu Madi Sidi Salem Sidi Salem Sidi Salem Sidi Salem TOC 0.56 0.52 0.62 0.76 0.73 0.54 0.91 1.34 1.60 1.88 S1 0.16 0.13 0.65 0.57 0.66 0.45 3.28 3.73 4.21 3.83 S2 0.41 0.38 0.39 0.40 0.56 0.54 2.10 2.50 2.61 2.11 S3 0.89 0.68 0.82 0.88 0.94 0.90 1.14 1.44 1.73 1.28 S2/S3 0.46 0.56 0.48 0.45 0.60 0.60 1.84 1.74 1.51 1.65 HI 73 73 63 53 77 100 231 187 168 112 OI 159 131 132 116 129 167 125 107 108 145 Tmax 434 435 434 435 434 435 435 435 436 438 PI 0.48 0.45 0.50 0.59 0.54 0.45 0.61 0.52 0.62 0.64

total organic carbon (weight percentage of the whole rock); S1: low hydrocarbon yield and values are mg hydrocarbon/g rock; S2: residual petroleum potential (mg HC/g rock); S3: organic CO2 -kerogen derived (mg CO2 /g rock); S2/S3: hydrogen/oxygen ratio (quality index); HI: hydrogen index (mg HC/g TOC); OI: oxygen index (mg CO2 /g TOC); Tmax: temperature at which maximum emission of high temperature (S2) hydrocarbons occurs ( C); PI: production index D S1/S1 C S2.

a TOC:

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Figure 3. Geochemical evaluation (Peters, 1986) of studied formations in the Sidi Salem-1 well, Nile Delta, Egypt.

Sidi Salem Formation possesses fair to good organic richness with TOC values ranging from 0.91 to 1.88 wt% and fair generative potential with S2 values from 2.10 to 2.61 mg HC/g rock (Table 1, Figure 3). The organic matter of this formation comprised both gas- and oil-prone kerogen (Figure 4) with hydrogen index values (HI) of 112 to 231 mg HC/g TOC (Table 1) and quality index (S2/S3) ranging from 1.51 to 1.84 (Table 1).

Figure 4. HI versus OI of organic matters types (Espitalie et al., 1977) of the studied formations in the Sidi Salem-1 well, Nile Delta, Egypt.

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Table 2 GC and GC-MS analyses of the Sidi Salem-1 well, onshore Nile Delta, Egypt a
Core no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Depth, m 1004 1288 1698 2120 2440 2725 2990 3324 3466 3660 Pr/ Ph 1.61 2.25 1.11 2.35 1.44 1.38 2.20 1.30 0.74 0.66 Pr/ n-C17 0.32 0.46 0.25 0.56 0.37 0.37 0.15 0.16 0.10 0.13 Ph/ n-C18 0.28 0.51 0.29 0.63 0.48 0.39 0.34 0.49 0.45 0.33 Ts/ Tm 0.73 0.59 0.61 0.52 0.71 0.54 0.80 0.53 0.68 0.63 C29 (20S)/20 (S C R) 0.51 0.63 0.57 0.49 0.75 0.63 0.58 0.53 0.59 0.64

Formations El Wastani Kafer El Sheikh Kafer El Sheikh Kafer El Sheikh Kafer El Sheikh Abu Madi Sidi Salem Sidi Salem Sidi Salem Sidi Salem

CPI 1.01 1.03 0.90 0.99 0.89 1.02 1.07 1.04 1.01 0.95

Indexa 0.17 0.12 0.19 0.34 0.45 0.57 0.39 0.06 0.03 0.01

Indexb 0.56 0.64 0.5 0.49 0.57 0.65 0.58 0.38 0.18 0.35

Indexc 0.05 0.04 0.06 0.04 0.08 0.04 0.71 0.08 0.04 0.06

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a Pr/Ph: pristane/phytane ratio; Pr/n-C : pristane/n-alkane ratio; Ph/n-C : phytane/n-alkane ratio; CPI: 17 18 carbon preference index D odd/even carbon atoms; Ts/Tm: trisnorhopanes/trisnorneohopanes ratios; Indexa homohopane index D (C35 homohopane S C R)/(C31 C C32 C C33 C C34 C C35 homohopanes S C R); Indexb : gammacerane index D gammacerane/(gammacerane C C30 hopane); Indexc : diasteranes index D (C27 diasteranes S C R)/[(C27 diasteranes C R) C C29 steranes S C R)]

Biological Markers Characteristics Normal Alkanes. The distribution of normal alkanes and isoprenoids in the source rocks is helpful in identifying the genetic origin and source environments (Peters and Moldowan, 1993). Fingerprints of gas chromatography for the saturated hydrocarbons of the studied formations are shown in Figure 5. It is obvious that n-alkanes in the range of n-C15 to nC25 are more abundant (Figure 5a), suggesting marine organic matters with contribution from algae and planktons (Peters and Moldowan, 1993). The pristane/phytane (pr/ph) ratios are 0.66 and 2.35 (Table 2), reecting source rock deposited under anoxic to suboxic conditions. The isoprenoids/n-alkanes ratios (pr/n-C17 and ph/n-C18) are 0.10 0.46 and 0.280.63, respectively (Table 2), suggesting contribution from mixed organic sources mainly from Type II algal marine deposited under reducing conditions (Figure 6). Tricyclic Terpanes. The concentration of tricyclic terpanes in crude oils is more sensitive to the specic paleoenvironments (Waples and Machihara, 1992; Andrew et al., 2001). Also, it has been used as a qualitative indicator of maturity (Van Grass, 1990). In our study the concentration of tricyclic terpanes (22R and 22S, peaks A and B; see peak identications in Table 3) is slight higher in the source rocks of the Sidi Salem formations (Figure 7). This indicates mature source rocks that are mainly of marine origin. This result is supported by other parameters such as the ratio of Ts (trisnorneohopane) to Tm (trisnorhopane), which is more than 0.5 (Table 2) that increases as the portion of shale in calcareous facies decreases (Riva et al., 1989; Hunt, 1996). The concentration of C29 norneohopane (peak G) is lower than C30 hopane (peak I); a low abundance of C30 moretane, gammacerance, and slightly highly concentration of bisnorhopanes (Figure 7, peaks E, J, and K, respectively) also indicate thermal maturity according to Philip (1985), Mann et al. (1987), Riediger et al. (1990), and Waples and Machihara, (1992).

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Figure 5. Representative gas chromatograms of studied formations in the Sidi Salem-1 well, onshore Nile Delta, Egypt.

Steranes. The source rocks of Sidi Salem well have a relatively high percentage of C28 steranes (20S and 20R; peaks F to I) and C29 steranes (peak J) compared to C27 steranes (20S and 20R; peaks C and D), and a low concentration of C27 diasteranes peaks A and B (Figure 8a; see peak identications in Table 3) indicates terrestrial organic origin. On the other hand, the diasterane index of these formations ranging from 0.03 to 0.08 (Table 2) conrms this conclusion. The Abu Madi Formation C27 and C29 diasteranes (20S and

Figure 6. Plot of pristane/n-C17 versus phytane/n-C18 (Shanmugam, 1985) showing the organic sources and maturation of studied formations in the Sidi Salem-1 well, onshore Nile Delta, Egypt.

Source Rocks Evaluation Table 3 Identication of peaks in triterpanes (m/z 191) and steranes (m/z 217) mass fragmentograms Triterpanes (m/z 191) Peaks A B C D E F G H I J K L M Compound name Tricyclic terpane (22R) Tricyclic terpane (22S) Trisnorhopane (Ts) Trisnorhopane (Tm) Bisonorhopans C29 Norhopanes C29 Norneohopane C29 Normoretane C30 Hopane C30 Moretane C30 Gammacerance C31 Homohopane (22S) C31 Homohopane (22R) Peaks A B C D E F G H I J Steranes (m/z 217)

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Compound name C27 C27 C27 C27 C29 C28 C28 C28 C28 C29 diasterane (20S) diasterane (20R) sterane (20S) sterane (20S) diasterane (20R) sterane (20S) sterane (20R) sterane (20S) sterane (20R) sterane (20S)

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20R) are high (peaks A, B, and E, Table 3 and Figure 8c) with relatively high diasteranes index value (0.71, Table 2). This reects source rock rich in terrestrial organic matters (Waples and Machihara, 1992; Hunt, 1996). This conclusion agrees very well the environment assigned independently by the International Egyptian oil based on a biostratigraphic basis. El Wastani Formation of uvial-marine environments, Kafer El Skeikh of marine environment at top and volatile

Figure 7. Ion fragmentograms of triterpanes (m/z 191) of studied formations in the Sidi Salem-1 well, onshore Nile Delta, Egypt.

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Figure 8. Ion fragmentograms of steranes (m/z 217) of studied formations in the Sidi Salem-1 well, onshore Nile Delta, Egypt.

at bottom. Abu Madi is possibly uvial-marine. Sidi Salem is very possibly a marine environment. Actually, the environment of deposition in general seem to be oscillating between uvial and marine. Maturation Tmax values of the Sidi Salem formations ranged from 434C to 438C (Table 1), indicating marginally mature source rocks. The Tmax values indicate marginally mature source rocks for El Wastani, Kafer El Sheikh, and Abu Madi formations and the Tmax for Sidi Salem Formation (Figure 3c) indicates mature source rocks. This agrees with the production index (PI), where it ranges from 0.45 to 0.64 (Table 1, Figure 3d). The C29 steranes 20S/20S C 20R ranged from 0.51 to 0.75. Ts/Tm ratios ranged from 0.33 to 0.80 (Table 2), indicating mature source rocks (Petersen et al., 2000; Andrew et al., 2001).

Conclusions
Rock-Eval pyrolysis and biomarker analyses of the subsurface rocks (El Wastani, Kafer El Sheikh, Abu Madi, Sidi Salem) in drilled sections of Sidi Salem-1 well in the onshore Nile Delta revealed that the source rocks are marginally mature to mature and have fair to good potential for generating oil and gas. These rocks are dominated by organic matter derived mainly from mixed marine and terrestrial sources with contributions from algae and bacteria deposited under anoxic to suboxic saline environments.

Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the authorities of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation for permitting the publication of this work. Thanks are due to the StratoChem and

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Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI), Cairo, Egypt, for the different organogeochemical analyses.

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