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Analysis of the Regional Sediment Distribution along the East Coast, South Africa during Gondwana Break up and its Hydrocarbon Potential
- Publisher: European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
- Source: Conference Proceedings, Fifth EAGE Eastern Africa Petroleum Geoscience Forum, Mar 2021, Volume 2021, p.1 - 5
Abstract
The frontier east coast offshore South Africa has an active petroleum system that is proven with only four offshore wells in the Durban basin. This paper is part of a regional evaluation conducted at the Petroleum Agency SA and highlights the sediment distribution pattern and the potential of the area. The importance of the hinterland is essential in understanding the sediment source to sink evolution of the southern African offshore. The potential sediment sources from the hinterland includes Jurassic coarse to fine grained sandstones, mudstones, siltstone and shales. The newly acquired non-exclusive seismic data was the primary seismic data source used. The results from the seismic mapping produced isopach maps for the Lower Cretaceous, Mid Cretaceous, Upper Cretaceous and the Cenozoic. The Agency’s 1D basin modelling study demonstrated that hydrocarbon potential exists within the vast study area. Thermal modelling has demonstrated that hydrocarbons have been generated from various stratigraphic levels within this frontier basin provided suitable source rocks are present. However, the lack of good quality source rocks at the existing wells in shelfal locations means that the presence of source rocks in more favorable palaeo bathymetric positions currently remains hypothetical.