Significance of reef limestones

as oil and gas reservoirs

in the Middle East and North Africa
by H. Stewart Edgell
The oil reservoirs of the Middle East and North Africa contain some 70% of the world's
known oil reserves and about 50% of the world's natural gas reserves. Most of these are
contained in high-energy carbonate platform sediments, or in fractured limestones of large,
doubly plunging anticlines. A considerable proportion of oil and gas reserves of the region
also occur in retaceous sandstones of similar structures.
il exploration in the vast sedimentary basins of the Middle East and North Africa is still
primarily at the stage of drilling simply folded surface, or seismically defined structures. It
has not yet reached the stage of exploration for stratigraphic traps and reefs. Nevertheless,
a significant number of reef and fore reef limestone reservoirs have been found by drilling,
and a very few have been recognized in seismic profiles.
Limestone reservoirs in fringing reef, barrier reef, fore reef and back reef shoal facies can be
recognized in parts of the region, as well as open shoal reefs. Reef walls are rare in the
subsurface of the area, either because they are too narrow or because they have been
eroded. There are no known atoll-type fringing reefs and isolated reef bioherm reservoirs in
Libya are best compared to buried platform reefs, or reef knolls.
Different organisms have acted as reef builders in epeiric seas of the geologic past, and
most ancient reefs are not built of hexacorals as with present-day reefs.
A compound fringing reef belt some 800km long ranging in age from Middle
Eocene to Middle Miocene extends along the foreland shelf of the Persian Gulf margin
sag-interior sag basin from Iraq into Iran. In the giant Kirkuk oil field, there is a 610m oil
column mostly in reef, fore reef and shoal reef limestones. The main fringing reefs cross the
Kirkuk anticlinal axis in a 20km wide belt and are Oligocene limestones. They are
composed of larger Foraminifera, calcareous algae and corals, such as Actinactis. ower
Miocene reef limestone reservoirs also occur in the Asmari imestone of certain Iranian
oil fields, such as Haft Kel and Gachsaran. The Ras Gharib oil field on the eastern edge of
the Gulf of Suez also produces from a Middle Miocene 'Nullipore' fringing reef reservoir,
really an algal ithothamnion reef.
ower Tertiary (!aleocene) buried platform reefs, or coral-algal bioherms form
spectacular permeable limestone reservoirs of the Intisar (Idris) A, B, C, D and E oil fields in
the Sirte Basin of eastern Libya.
Rudist reefs occur in the Middle retaceous (enomanian) Sarvak
Formation limestones of oil fields in the productive Bangestan Group on the Karun Shelf
of southwest Iran. The Middle retaceous Mauddud and Mishrifformations also contain
rudist reef reservoirs on local structural highs of the offshore United Arab Emirates. The
Augila oil field in eastern Libya contains a rudist reef reservoir of similar age.
In the ower retaceous (Aptian) Shuaiba Formation limestone reservoirs of the
U.A.E., there is a large rudist reef buildup with calcareous algae and orbitolinids. This forms
a subcircular reef trend in eastern Arabia and the eastern Persian Gulf, including the large
Bu Hasa, Shah, Sirri and Shaybah oil fields, bordered basinward by a belt of fore reef
detritus.
!ermian reef limestones with abundant fusulinids, algae and corals occur in the
thick Dalan Formation exposed in the High Zagros Ranges of southern Iran. They are also
believed to contribute to the large gas reservoirs of the Aghar, Dalan, Kangan, and Pars gas
fields.
Reef Dalan complex limestone reservoirs of the Middle East and North Africa contain
ultimate recoverable oil reserves estimated to be about 64 billion barrels.
ntroduction
In the Middle East and North Africa, an area of more than 14 million square kilometres,
shallow water carbonates are very common both in outcrop and the stratigraphic sequence.
This immense, largely desert region is the largest marine carbonate province in the world
(Fig. 1) extending over a maximum east-west width of 8370 km and up to 4180 km from
north to south. In this vast area of dominantly limestones and dolomites, petroleum
exploration has already revealed a number of significant reef, and reef related oil and gas
reservoirs.

Figure 1: Map of the Middle East and North Africa.

These consist of fringing reefs in the Eocene and Oligocene of giant Kirkuk oil field
in Iraq, where fore reef and back reef limestones are also productive, and fringing
reefs in some of the oil fields of southern Iran. Known barrier reefs are limited
to Middle Eocene limestone reservoirs of the western Kirkuk Field, and the only
possible case of a reef wall reservoir to-date is in the Oligocene limestones of the
Bai Hassan oil field of Iraq. A well-developed fringing reef buildup of rudists forms
major oil reservoirs in the ower retaceous of Bu Hasa and Shah fields of Abu
Dhabi, the Shaybah-Zarrara fields of eastern Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, as well
as in fields in man, offshore Qatar and Iran. In the giant Bu Hasa oil field, fore
reef facies of the retaceous rudist reef are also productive.
Some of the clearest examples of reef limestone reservoirs are found in the
subcircular !aleocene reef knolls of the Sirte Basin in Libya, which were probably
originally platform reefs. Atolls are as yet unknown in the subsurface of the region.
A primary reason that reef or reef related limestone reservoirs are so far relatively
few in the Middle East and North Africa is that most exploratory drilling is still at an
early stage with most emphasis on structure drilling. In addition, most known oil
and gas fields are caused by basement uplift, deep-seated diapirs, or fold fractured
limestones. The majority of carbonates in the region appear to have accumulated
as shallow water, low-energy deposits of the open shelf, carbonate ramp type with
a reef margin being rarely formed. An analogue for past carbonate depositional
environments is the present-day Persian Gulf, a remnant of the Tethys, where
carbonates are currently being widely accumulated, although reefs account for only
a very small percentage of the area.
Despite these apparent limitations, there is considerable geological knowledge of
various reef facies in the stratigraphic successions of the Middle East and North
Africa. The pioneering studies have been those in Iraq on Kirkuk and nearby
anticlinal structures by geologists of the former Iraq Petroleum Company, especially
Henson (1950), van Bellen (1956) and Dunnington (1958). Much of this early work
was based on detailed petrographical and paleontological studies of thin sections
from cores and well cuttings. For example, van Bellen examined over 20,000 thin
sections from 45,000 feet of drilled wells in the Kirkuk oil field and vicinity to reach
his conclusions on Eocene and Oligocene reef facies. In southern Iran, Thomas
(1950, 1952) and Kent 0t alii (1951) have made reef studies of the major Oligo-
Miocene Asmariimestone reservoir Formation, while Edgell (1977) has studied
the shoal reef facies of the !ermian Dalan Formation. In Abu Dhabi, Harris
(1968), Wilson (1975) and Alsharhan (1985) have evaluated the
buried retaceousrudist reef reservoirs. In North Africa, studies by Terry and
Williams (1969) of the platform reef !aleocene Intisar "A" (Idris) oil field and of
productive retaceous rudist reef facies in the Augila oil field (Williams, 1968)
have proved that buried reef limestones constitute major oil reservoirs.
The petroleum potential of buried reef facies in the Middle East and North Africa is
now beginning to be better understood. Seismic profiles of reef knolls, or platform
reefs, are now known in the Sirte Basin of Libya and are actively followed up as
attractive new petroleum prospects. Oligo-Miocene reef trends have now been
established in Iraq and Iran and have proved to be very productive where crossed
by anticlinal traps. An example is the Alborz No.1 Well drilled on an anticline 10km
north of Qum, northern Iran, which encountered a narrow, very
permeable Oligocene reef and blew wild at 110,000 BPD in 1958 before blocking
itself with a natural obstruction. Knowledge of ower retaceousrudist reef trends
in the eastern Persian Gulf Basin is now well established and contributes to the
development of giant oil fields, such as Bu Hasa (Abu Dhabi), Shaybah (Saudi
Arabia), and Sirri (offshore Iran).
An estimated 64 billion barrels of ultimate recoverable oil reserves are now known
in the Middle East and North Africa, comprising about 7.5% of the presently known
oil reserves in the region. Although reef limestones and related reef facies are
never likely to account for more than 10% of the region's oil reserves, they are still
very significant oil producers and future petroleum prospects.
Types of ancient reef facies
Exploration and exploitation wells, as well as outcrops in the dominantly carbonate province
of the Middle East and North Africa, indicate the stratigraphic relationships of distinct reef
facies. The principal types distinguished are fringing reefs, barrier reefs, reef walls, shoal
reefs, reef knolls (platform reefs), and bank reefs formed over submerged highs (Fig. 2a).

Figure 2a: #001 1aci0s and s0dim0ntary 0nvironm0nts (H0nson, 1950).

Back reef and fore reef facies are also associated with these reefs, and the whole
combination of facies in any given case is referred to as a reef complex. Wilson
(1975) recognizes 9 facies belts on a rimmed platform (Fig. 2b). From sea to shore,
these are 1) basin facies, 2) open marine neritic facies, 3) toe of slope carbonates
(to storm wave base), 4) foreslope talus, 5) organic build-up (reef), 6) platform
lime sand belt, 7) open platform (wackestone, mudstone), 8) restricted platform,
and 9) platform evaporites (sabkha). Reef wall facies are rare, being observed in
the ower retaceous of Bu Hasa and the Oligocene of Bai Hassan, having
elsewhere been either been eroded, or missed as very narrow belts due to the low
density of drilling. Detrital limestones associated with reefs are much more
important than the latter both in relative bulk and as oil carrier beds and
reservoirs.

Figure 2b: #001 and associat0d 1aci0s b0lts on a rimm0d sh0l1 (Wilson, 1975).
Fringing reefs are found along the foreland shelf part of the Persian Gulf Basin (a
margin sag-interior sag basin) in limestones of the Miocene, Oligocene, Eocene,
and retaceous (Maastrichtian, enomanian and Aptian). The best known
fringing reef in the Middle East extends through the giant Kirkuk oil field of Iraq
(Fig. 3) ranging in age fromMiddle Eocene to Oligocene. The Kirkuk reefs are
really compound fringing reefs.

Figure 3: ringing r001 (Oligoc0n0) o1 Kirkuk oil 1i0ld (Dunnington, 1958).

Reef wall limestone reservoirs are seen in the higher part of the ower
retaceous of the Bu Hasa oil field of Abu Dhabi where 170m of rudist reef forms
the core of this giant field (Harris, 1968; Wilson, 1975). They are also known in
theOligocene of the Bai Hassan oil field, where 44m of coral reef wall were
encountered (van Bellenr, 1956).
Barrier reefs are as yet only rarely known despite the huge North African-Middle
East !ermian to enozoic carbonate province. In the area between Kirkuk and
Mosul in northern Iraq, Middle Eocene reefs are classed as barrier reefs and pass
northeastward into chemical limestones of a wide, back reef lagoon (van Bellen,
1956). The Middle Eocene(utetian) limestones of the Khurmala and Avanah
domes in the Kirkuk oil field have developed as barrier reefs.
Bank reefs have developed over submerged tectonic uplifts and occur in the Upper
retaceous (Maastrichtian-ampanian) of northern Iraq and in the ower to
Middle Eocene and Oligocene of western Syria (Henson, 1950).
pen reef shoals occur where patches of larger Foraminifera, such as Peneroplidae,
Amphisteginidae, Alveolinidae, and larger rotalids mix with Mollusca and Echinoidea
to form shell banks typically in the Tertiary carbonate formations of the Middle
East, especially in Iran and Iraq. They are also found in the fusulinid-coral shoal
reef build-ups of the Upper !ermian in southern Iran (Fig. 4).

Figure 4: $hoal r001 bio1aci0s (1usulinid-coral) Upp0r P0rmian, Iran (Edg0ll, 1977).
Diagrammatic bio1aci0s cross-s0ction o1 th0 Upp0r P0rmian 1rom th0 H0az - Arabia
- to th0 Qashqai $arhad - Iran -.
Fore reef shoals are situated in shallow areas seaward of the fringing reef and the
reef talus (Facies 2 of Wilson, 1975), where there are high concentrations of larger
Foraminifera. In the Tertiary limestones of the region, major shoal reef forming
organisms are Nummulitidae, Lepidocyclinidae, perculinidae, Miogypsinidae, and
Alveolinidae, while in theretaceous rbitoididae and rbitolinidae are the
principal constituents of fore reef shoals. In the United Arab Emirates and its
offshore, a northerly belt of permeable ower retaceous shoal grainstone with
abundant fragmented orbitolinids forms important oil reservoirs in the Bab and
Zakum fields.

Figure 5: or0 r001 rudist d0tritus, Aptian, Bu Hasa oil 1i0ld (Wilson, 1975).
Talus slope deposits consist of accumulated reef debris and broken shell fragments.
Due to their high porosity and permeability talus slope deposits probably account
for more oil production in the Middle East and North Africa than reef limestones. An
example is the extensive fore reef rudist detritus of the Bu Hasa oil field of Abu
Dhabi (Fig. 5). The trend of this rudist reef build-up and its fore reef facies is now
well established in the eastern Persian Gulf and Arabia (Fig. 6).

Figure 6: %r0nd o1 rudist r001 build-up in th0 P0rsian Gul1 and Arabia (Alsharhan,
1985).
Atolls, similar to those of the South Pacific, such as Funafuti and Kanton islands,
are as yet unknown in the stratigraphic sequences of the Middle East and North
Africa.
Reef knolls, probably better described as platform reefs, are known from the large
Sirte Basin of Libya, where they form the subcircular !aleocene coral-algal
bioherms of the productive Intisar (Idris) "A", "B", "C", "D", and "E" oil fields.
Intisar "A" Field (Fig. 7a) was described by Terry and Williams (1969). The Intisar
"D" oil field is a typical example (Fig. 7b), being 5km in diameter with an initial oil
column of 291m, so that the buried reef was full to spill point. When discovered in
1967 the initial well yielded 75,000 BPD due to permeability as high as 500
millidarcies and original stock tank oil in place was estimated at 1.8 billion barrels
(Brady 0t alii, 1980). Similar productive platform reefs occur in the Paleocene of
discovery wells in the A1-NC 29B and A1-NC 29C concessions of the northwestern
Sirte Basin. They contain build-ups of scleractinian corals and encrusting calcareous
algae, solenoporoid algal reef growth of Paracha0t0t0s asvapatii Pia, and colonial
madreporarian corals, such as Porit0s.

Figure 7a: Plat1orm r001, or r001 knoll, o1 th0 Pal0oc0n0 coral-algal Intisar "A" 1i0ld,
ibya (%0rry and William, 1969).

Figure 7b: Plat1orm r001, or r001 knoll, o1 th0 Pal0oc0n0 coral-algal Intisar "D" 1i0ld,
ibya (Brady et alii, 1980).
hese !aleocene platform reefs of Libya can be distinctly recognized on seismic profiles
(Figs. 8a and 8b). Features are the convex shaped reef top, overlying drape, break-up of
reflectors at the reef edge, almost no continuity of reflectors through the reef mass, and
velocity sag under the reef due to lower velocity for reef limestones than surrounding
rocks.

Figure 8a: $0ismic cross-s0ction o1 th0 Intisar "A" r001, ibya (%0rry and William,
1969).

Figure 8b: $0ismic cross-s0ction ov0r cr0st o1 Intisar "D" plat1orm r001, ibya
(Brady et alii, 1980).
Development of reefs responds to eustatic sea level changes. With regressive or
constant sea levels the reef tends to prograde or builds out over its own talus
deposits (Fig. 9a). With gradually rising sea levels, reefs are trangressive and
backstep or build shoreward over earlier reef accumulations. An example of a
regressive reef is the ower retaceous(Shuaiba Formation) rudist reef in Bu
Hasa Field, Abu Dhabi, which has gradually built northward, progading over its fore
reef detritus. A transgressive reef building shoreward over its earlier back reef
lagoonal facies is seen in Kirkuk oil field where Middle Oligocene reef and fore
reef deposits have built shoreward over the earlier ower Oligocene reef.

Figure 9a: #0gr0ssiv0 and transgr0ssiv0 r001 growth patt0rns (H0nson, 1950).
Kendall and Schlager (1981) have recognized a number of different types of reef
response to eustatic changes of sea level under terms such as "give-up", "catch-
up", "back-step", "keep-up", "prograde", and "spillout" (Fig. 9b).

Figure 9b: #001 growth r0spons0 to 0ustatic s0a-l0v0l chang0s (K0ndall et alii,
1991).