A comparison of burial, maturity and temperature histories of selected wells in southern Iraq

Abstract EN

In this study, five oil fields in Mesopotamian, southern Iraq (Noor, luhais, north rumaila, jerishan, and Rifai) are selected for studying burial and thermal histories.

Petromod software is used for basin constructing and evaluating thermal and burial histories of the basin.

Results show that the generation of oil started at the end of cretaceous and beginning of tertiary due to the increasing of temperature and burial depth on the sulaiy and yamama formations which in turn affect the processes of organic matter maturation.

In fact, these two formations are regarded as the main source rocks in the study area.

The organic matter in the remaining formations within the stratigraphic column enters the level of maturity at the Miocene but they are incapable of generating oil although they have a significant amount of oil and its level of maturity.

The horizontal and vertical migrations of oil initiate at the Miocene in both western and southwestern directions which reflect the accumulation of significant amount of oil in these directions through the basin.