1.

Introduction

The following proposed research project focuses on Tectono-Stratigrphy and

Petroleum System of Zamzama Gas Field located in the piedmont physiographic
province of Sindh. This study focuses on the Structural interpretation and
Petrophysical evaluation of the Zamzama Gas field Kirthar fold belt Lower Indus
Basin, which covers portions of source rock evaluation through CGR and SGR,
reservoir properties, type of seal and trapping mechanism, structure style and
sediment control and facies distribution within study area of Kirthar fold belt, Lower
Indus basin.

2. Study Area

Zamzama gas field lies between 26.73410N and 67.77950E in Dadu district
Sindh. The location of Zamzama gas field is shown in Fig. 1.1.
Zamzama gas field lies in the vicinity of Kirthar fold and thrust belt, Southern Indus
Basin of Pakistan(Nasir and Haq, 2015). The southern Indus Basin is surrounded by the
Indian Shield to the east and the marginal zone of Indian plate to the west, and it also
bounded by Sukkur rift from north to offshore Indus in the south. The southern Indus
basin is comprised of five units, Thar Platform, Kirther Foldbelt, Kirther Foredeep,
Karachi trough, and Offshore Indus (Kazmi and Jan, 1997). Most eastern part of the
southern Indus Basin is comprised of Thar Platform, and its western part is comprised of
Kirther Foldbelt. Kirther Foredeep area lies between the Kirther Foldbelt and Thar
Platform. The most southern part of the southern Indus Basin is comprises of offshore
Indus which is the passive margin of the Indus offshore. The portion of the southern
Indus Basin that lies between Kirther Foredeep offshore Indus is known as Karachi
trough (Kazmi, 1989).

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 Fig 1.1: Map showing the location of research area (Courtesy of GSP)

3. Structure Style and Geology of the Area

The Lower Indus Basin is rich of Hydrocarbon resources within Pakistan. The
location of this basin is tectonically very important, because it is location at the triple
junction (Indian, Arabian, and Eurasian Plates). Lower Indus Basin is a rift and passive
margin basin which is formed due to separation of Indian and African plate in late
Jurassic (Gaedick et al., 2002). According to Kolla and coumes., (1987) the Chaagos-
Laccadive Ridge, the Owen-Murray Ridge, the Mid-Indian Ridge (Carlsberg Ridge), and
the rifted Indian continental margin marks the eastern, northwest and western, southern
and northern boundries of the Indus Basin respectively (Subrahmanyan et al., 2008).
The Kirthar Fold Belt (KFB) forms the southern part of the Fold Belt west of Lower
Indus Basin of Pakistan [Bnnert, D., A. Cheema, A. Ahmad and Schaffer, 1992). KFB is
located adjacent to the present-day strike-slip western margin of the Indo- Pakistan Plate
represented by the Ornach-Nal Fault System (ONF) and the Chaman Fault. To the east,
the KFB passes into the Lower Indus Basins on the stable Indian foreland. In the south-

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west KFB passes into the Offshore SW-NE rending Murray Ridge (Asim, S., Khan, N.,
Qureshi, S.N., Hussain, F. and Bablani, S.A., 2014).
Kirthar foldbelt of Pakistan has been under exploration since long but the first major
discovery was made in 1997 by Bhit-2 well which was a result of exploration activity
between 1994 and 1997 by Eni-Lasmo Pakistan and partners by acquiring exploration
license in the southern part of KFB (Ahmad Nasir and Naziul- Haq., 2015).
The Southern KFB is bounded to the west by the Bela Ophiolite and to the east by the
eastern most emergent fault, the Laki Fault and to the west of the fold belt is the Porali
Trough, an alluvial covered embayment between the Kirthar and Makran Ranges.
(Nayyer, Z.A. and Mallick, K.A. 1994).
The structures in the KFB are not randomly distributed but are controlled by the
positions of the earlier extensional faults. The majority of these faults are believed to be
the inherited from Jurassic rifting. The main inversion of the Jurassic faults took place
during Plio-Pleistocene collision event. However earlier inversion took place dating from
late Palaeocene which is related to emplacement of the Bela Ophiolite onto the leading
edge of the plate (Smewing, J.D, J. Warburton, A. Cernuschi and Naziul- Haq 2002).
Sediments of the KFB were deposited on the NW margin of the Indo-Pakistan Plate
following separation of this plate from the East African margin in the Late Jurassic and
during its subsequent south eastward and then northward drift across the Indian Ocean
(Besse, J. and V. Courtillot, 1988).This rift-drift phase was terminated by initial collision
of the northern margin of the plate with Eurasian plat in the Early Eocene i.e 55Ma
(Searle, M.P., R.I. Corfield, B. Stephenson and J. McCarron, 1997). The first Himalayan-
sourced clastics arrived in the Late Middle Eocene (40 Ma) and late Palaeogene flysch
(Kohan Jhal Fm) were deposited in a narrowing seaway between the Indo-Pakistan Plate
and the Afghan Plate (Treloar, P.J. and C.N. Izatt, 1993).

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 Fig 1.2: Map showing the Kirthar Foldbelt area under consideration (modified
after John D. Smewing) and Shabeer Ahmed Abbasi.

4. Stratighraphy of the Area

Stratighraphy of the area ranges from Cretaceous to Pleistocene and Holocene

(Qadri, 1995). The rocks are main detrital land non-detrital of different ages. Three
formation characterized in different ages on the basis of fossils (Hunting Survey
Corporation, 1960). The Geological setup of the area shows that the oldest rock of the
area is cretaceous in age. The Sember and Goru formations are Early Cretaceous,
whereas Pab, Parh, and Mughal Kot formation are of Late Cretaceous(Qadri, 1995).

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 The Sember Formation consist of shale which dark brownish grey to brownish
black, in parts greenish grey, moderately hard, sub blocky to blocky, sub fissile highly
carbonaceous and non calcareous, silty shale or marl and the fossils in the formation are
belemnites including hibolitestilliformis, subusiformis, and Davaliap., (Malkani, 2010).
Whereas the Goru formation comprises of two units, Upper Goru and Lower
Goru. The Upper Goru consist of Marls of light-grey, greensih-grey, soft to hard,
amorphous to blocky, and Lower Goru Formation is a thick sequence of Sands interbeded
with thick claystone/shale and minor limestone members. Age of Lower Goru is Early
Cretaceous (Malkani, 2010). The Late Cretaceous Mughal-Kot Formation is largely grey
silty calcareous shale (Kazmi, 1989). It is mostly developed in shallow marine, prodeltaic
and deltaic environments (Malkani, 2010).
The Ranikot Group Consist of shale, caly/claystone and sandstone transparent to
translucent, light brown. The fossils include Globoger inapseudo bulloide (Umar, 2007).
A Paleocene age has been assigned to the group on the basis of its fossils content (Shah,
1977). Whereas Ghazij formation contains shale, sandstone, conglomerate and coal
seams, and fossils of this formation are Assilina granulosa, A. Pustules, Flosculina
globosa (Hunting Survey Corporation, 1960).
The Kirther Formation consist of limestone rich fossils, interbedded with
subsidiary marl and shale, the fossils content include Foraminifera, Gastropods, Bivalves
and Echinoids (Eames, 1952). The age is assigned to this Formation is Early to Late
Eocene (Kazmi and Jan, 1997). The Oligocene Nari Formation, is mainly consist of fine
to medium coarser grained sandstone having brown color and interbedded shale, the
fossils content include Foraminifera and Mollusks (Fatmi, 1977).
The middle Miocene Gaj Formation mainly composed of shale with subordinate
sandstone and limestone, the shale is flecked, greenish grey, the sandstone is brown in
color, greenish-grey, calcareous and cross bedded. The following fossils are reported
from the Gaj Formation; Operculinasp, Cyclocyeussp, Gypsinasp, Dentalinasp,
Textulariasp, Austrotrillinio (Brohiet et al., 2009).
The main lithology of Siwaliks group is sandstone, clay, siltstone and limestone.
The color of sandstone is light gray or greenish gray having fine to medium grained

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texture. The sorting is sub angular to rounding contain loose to friable material and are
highly micaceous (Kazmi and Jan, 1997).

Fig 1.3: Showing the borehole stratighraphy of the area (Shabeer Ahmed Abbasi)

5. Objectives
This publication aims to achieve a comprehensive understanding of petroleum
system in the Zamzama Gas field through:
i) Structural and Stratigraphic interpretation of the seismic data to understand
the development and distribution of petroleum system elements within the
study area.

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 ii) To generate TWT isopach maps to understand spatial distribution of
petroleum system elements (Source and Reservoir).
iii) Generation of fault maps at various interval to understand the structural
configuration of the study area.
iv) To prepare composite faults map to determine reactivation of faults and their
association with possible traps.
v) Structural modeling of the fault and associated traps (using depth conversion
techniques) to understand trapping mechanism in the study area.
vi) Source rock evaluation of the study area
vii) Formulation of petroleum system in the study area by integration of
previously interpreted and evaluated results.
vii) Formulation of petroleum system in the study area by integration of
previously interpreted and evaluated results.

6. Data required
Following well data, wire line logs and well formation tops are required.
Complete set of log data and well including:

Tab 1.1. Showing the well data and seismic data acquired for the project

Well Name Required Logs Seismic Data

Zamzama-01 Gamma ray log (GR) HKP98A-30
Zamzama-02 Spectral Gamma ray log (SGR) HKP98A-31
Zamzama-03 Compensated Gamma ray log HKP98A-32
Zamzama-05 (CGR) HKP98A-33
Resistivity log (LLS+ , LLD , HKP98A-34
MSFL) HKP98A-35
Caliper log ( CALI ) HKP98A-36
Spontaneous Potential log ( SP )
Neutron log
Sonic log
Density log
PEEF log

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 NOTE: Please provide Data in soft form i.e. LAS and SEGY file format and in
hard form for all the wells of Zamzama Gas Field (Zamzama north-01, Zamzama
north -02, Zamzama north -03, and Zamzama north -05).

6.1. Software required

The following software will be used for the interpretation in the research
paper including:
Petrel, Geographix, SMT Kingdom.

7. Methodology
This project aims to fill a gap in knowledge concerning the geological history of
Zamzama gas field Kirthar fold belt, lower Indus basin. This will be accomplished by
a combination of detail well logging, seismic data analysis with help of different
software.

1. Interpretation of seismic and well log data.

2. Generation of TWT map, isopach map, to understand the distribution and
development of different petroleum system elements (e.g Source rock,
reservoir rock and trapping mechanism).
3. To make faults map at various interval to understand the development of
structural trapping mechanism.
4. Petrophysical evaluation of source and reservoir rock to generate the
burial history curve.
5. Integration of seismic and Petrophysical interpretation results to
establish a petroleum system elements of the study area.

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 Fig 4. Showing the research methodology flow chart

8. Expected outcomes

Structural interpretation could provide the Petroleum system throughout the area
and will identify the depth of different formation, thickness of horizons, faults and
trapping mechanism within the KFB. Progressive changes in dip could provide the
information about the amount and timing of faulting.
Source rock evaluation could provide information about the thickness and lateral
extent of organic rich lacustrine facies; it could also be useful in the estimation of total
organic content (TOC) and depth of derived vitrinite reflectance data.
Reservoirs rock properties could provide the information about thickness, attitude
and distribution of the stratigraphic units and it could help in identification of clean and
dirty formations, extension and porosities within the reservoir that are suitable for the
hydrocarbons.

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 Through the interpreted results of source and reservoirs evaluation could help in
burial history curve generation.
Different formation could provide the detail record of sedimentary environment
that exist within the area. Interpretation of various depositional environments will used to
establish distribution of lithologies. The lithological analysis will be used to extend a
geological map to that portion of the basin that lack good exposures.

9. Work flow and Time framework

Tab 1.2. Showing work flow and time duration for each step.

Work flow Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Synopsis Submission 
Presentation of Synopsis 
Data Collection  
Data Quality verification 
Seismic interpretation  
Tectono-Stratigrphy  
evolution
Source Rock Evaluation 
Reservoir Rock Evaluation  
And burial curve
generation
Thesis Write-up  
Thesis Submission 

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multi seismic attribute analysis technique in Zamzama gas field area, southern
Indus Basin, Pakistan
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