oa Geochemical Characterization and Volumetric Assessment of the Prolific Mesozoic Source Rocks of the Northeastern Arabian Plate

The Middle-Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous strata of the NE Arabian Plate contain several prolific world-class source rocks for some of the largest petroleum systems globally. They are located within the Zagros and Mesopotamian Foreland Basins covering north, central and south-eastern parts of Iraq together with western and south-western parts of Iran, particularly the Lurestan and Khuzestan provinces. These source rocks principally include the Bajocian–Bathonian Sargelu, the Callovian–Early Kimmeridgian Naokelekan and the Late Tithonian–Early Berriasian Chia Gara Formations of Iraq and their chronostratigraphic equivalents in Iran. They have charged the main Cretaceous and Tertiary reservoirs throughout Iraq and Iran (in various trap types and sizes) with more than 250 billion barrels of proven recoverable hydrocarbons.