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The origin of oil in the Cretaceous succession from the South Pars Oil Layer of the Persian Gulf

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Abstract

The origin of the oil in Barremian–Hauterivian and Albian age source rock samples from two oil wells (SPO-2 and SPO-3) in the South Pars oil field has been investigated by analyzing the quantity of total organic carbon (TOC) and thermal maturity of organic matter (OM). The source rocks were found in the interval 1,000–1,044 m for the Kazhdumi Formation (Albian) and 1,157–1,230 m for the Gadvan Formation (Barremian–Hauterivian). Elemental analysis was carried out on 36 samples from the source rock candidates (Gadvan and Kazhdumi formations) of the Cretaceous succession of the South Pars Oil Layer (SPOL). This analysis indicated that the OM of the Barremian–Hauterivian and Albian samples in the SPOL was composed of kerogen Types II and II–III, respectively. The average TOC of analyzed samples is less than 1 wt%, suggesting that the Cretaceous source rocks are poor hydrocarbon (HC) producers. Thermal maturity and Ro values revealed that more than 90 % of oil samples are immature. The source of the analyzed samples taken from Gadvan and Kazhdumi formations most likely contained a content high in mixed plant and marine algal OM deposited under oxic to suboxic bottom water conditions. The Pristane/nC17 versus Phytane/nC18 diagram showed Type II–III kerogen of mixture environments for source rock samples from the SPOL. Burial history modeling indicates that at the end of the Cretaceous time, pre-Permian sediments remained immature in the Qatar Arch. Therefore, lateral migration of HC from the nearby Cretaceous source rock kitchens toward the north and south of the Qatar Arch is the most probable origin for the significant oils in the SPOL.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Pars Oil and Gas Company for data preparation and materials for analyses and gratefully acknowledge the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). We also appreciate the publications of “Elsevier” and “John Wiley and Sons” for permission of reusing and reprinting respective figures and tables based on the licences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Petroleum Engineering, Faculty of Petroleum and Renewable Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM, Johor, Malaysia

    Omeid Rahmani, Radzuan Junin & Amin Azdarpour

  2. Islamic Azad University, Mahabad Branch, Mahabad, Iran

    Omeid Rahmani, Jafar Aali & Sahar Zarza

  3. Department of Geology, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Bu–Ali Sina University, Hamadan, Iran

    Hassan Mohseni

  4. Department of Geosciences, Faculty of Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Perak, Malaysia

    Eswaran Padmanabhan

  5. Department of English Languages, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

    Sahar Zarza

  6. Department of Geology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

    Mohsen Moayyed

  7. Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, IKh Int. University, Ghazvin, Iran

    Parviz Ghazanfari

  8. Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Mara, 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

    Amin Azdarpour

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  1. Omeid Rahmani
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Correspondence to Omeid Rahmani.

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Rahmani, O., Aali, J., Junin, R. et al. The origin of oil in the Cretaceous succession from the South Pars Oil Layer of the Persian Gulf. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 102, 1337–1355 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-012-0855-3

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