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Depositional and post-depositional architectural elements of the Dar es Salaam Platform, central coastal Tanzania: distribution of petroleum system elements and their implications for petroleum prospectivity

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Abstract

The Dar es Salaam Platform (DSP) and Mafia Basin are within the Bigwa-Rufiji-Mafia (BRM) hydrocarbon exploration block of the coastal Tanzania basin. The DSP has made insignificant hydrocarbon discoveries despite some exploration campaigns that involved the acquisition of seismic reflection data and exploration drilling. This study used 2D seismic interpretation techniques and well-log analysis to establish depositional and post-depositional architectural elements of the DSP for the purpose of contributing to the understanding of the petroleum prospectivity of the area. Based on well-log analysis, correlation has been made to the Mafia Basin to assess any spatial variability in depositional conditions and processes, which may be key to understanding the petroleum potential of the DSP. Results show that tectonics, sea level changes, and sediment supply mainly controlled the formation of the DSP. Different tectonic events created hydrocarbon migration pathways from deep buried source rocks to shallow seated reservoirs and formed possible petroleum prospects. The revealed petroleum prospects are fault-controlled and have not been tested by drilling. Some of the prospects have been fractured by subsequent faulting. The faulting of the petroleum prospects within the DSP caused hydrocarbon leakages to be revealed by the mapped gas chimneys. These gas chimneys are reported for the first time in the study area. The hydrocarbon leakage from the DSP prospects may be one of the reasons why the previous exploration campaigns ended with some dry wells.

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Data availability

The data used to accomplish this work is confidential but may be accessed upon formal application to the Tanzania Petroleum Upstream Regulatory Authority (PURA).

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Acknowledgements

The Tanzania Petroleum Upstream Regulatory Authority (PURA) provided the dataset to accomplish this work. Data analysis, interpretation, and report writing were made possible by the facilities of the School of Mines and Geosciences (SoMG) of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). The African Union and Pan African University are appreciated for the MSc—scholarship grant to the first author. We thank Dr. John W. Gama and Mr. Ernest Selestin for the discussion that helped improve our research. Comments from anonymous reviewers improved our manuscript significantly.

Funding

The only fund associated with this work is the MSc scholarship given to the first author by the African Union and Pan African University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pan Africa University Life and Earth Sciences Institute (Including Health and Agriculture), Ibadan, Nigeria

    Felister Christopher Nyaki, Emily Barnabas Kiswaka & Olugbenga A. Boboye

  2. Department of Petroleum Science and Engineering, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

    Emily Barnabas Kiswaka

  3. Department of Geology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

    Olugbenga A. Boboye

  4. Department of Geosciences, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

    Stephen Peter Magohe, Elisante E. Mshiu & Cassy Mtelela

  5. Department of Earth, Energy and Environment, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

    Stephen Peter Magohe

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  1. Felister Christopher Nyaki
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Contributions

FCN: conceptualization, seismic and well logs interpretation, initial manuscript draft writing, annotation of figures, review of final manuscript draft, and submission. EBK: conceptualization, seismic and well logs interpretation, initial manuscript draft writing, annotation of figures, review of final manuscript draft, supervision. SPM: conceptualization, sequence stratigraphy interpretation, text editing, final manuscript review. OAB: text editing, discussion, review of final manuscript draft, supervision. EEM: text editing, discussion, review of final manuscript draft, supervision. CM: text editing, discussion, review of final manuscript draft.

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Correspondence to Felister Christopher Nyaki.

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Nyaki, F.C., Kiswaka, E.B., Boboye, O.A. et al. Depositional and post-depositional architectural elements of the Dar es Salaam Platform, central coastal Tanzania: distribution of petroleum system elements and their implications for petroleum prospectivity. J. Sediment. Environ. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43217-024-00175-9

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