Regional Petroleum Geology of Central and South West Iraq

Subsurface geology of Iraq is generally poorly understood away from the main petroleum producing areas of the SE and the foldebelt of the NE. Relatively little interpretation has been made and published using regional 2-D seismic coverage, whilst data from wells is scattered and of variable quality; and outcrop studies are still in their infancy. Largely this is due to a perception that the broad down-to-the east regional dip across this whole region, precludes the development of significant traps and therefore the petroleum industry has focused its resources elsewhere. As a first pass strategy this is undoubtedly sensible but as acreage and fields in parts of the country with existing production are allocated to operators, attention will inevitably focus updip in a westerly direction.