ARHT Media Inc V.ART.H

RE: Some light reading for Geologist types

[GreatSwami]

Nice study of general oil source and migration history in context with the structural timing and history. too generic for any but more genalised conclusions - difficult to make any specific and detailed assumptions or conclusions relative to any particular structure within any particular geographical domain.

Basically the oil migration diagrams show that the oil could easily have flowed into all structures from mature oil kitchen oil generating source rocks - and the structural timing shows that some structure may have been leaky while others have maintained sealing integrity. But it is agnostic about which structures may have leaked and which may have sealed? Those sorts of details can only be discovered through detailed 3-D seismic and ultimately by drilling to find out what is where.

All the oil Companies involved will have included such studies in their choosing of permits - and all will have found ways of making the case that their permit is one of outstanding oil potential. But as we have seen - surprises have come about all too often here with "unexpectedly leaky reservoirs (Sangaw North) and unexpectedly gas condensate filled ones (Miran east and west). So it goes.

Nice study though as part of the generic "Big Picture" overview. However it does show the Shiranish as a marl throughout Northern Iraq - something that it is very obvious that it is not from the Miran wireline log depiction on the Heritage Oil site under presentations. So if anyone tries to make any specific assumptions from such a generalised and crude overview - it doesn't work. In providing the generalities it ignores any local specifics. But after all it is not supposed to be a detailed exploration tool - just a regional (and way over generalised) synthesis. The Shiranish, Kometan and Qamchuqa have marly zones within the broad formation itself - but each of these formation zones have significant bands of clean, dense brittle and easily fractured clean limestones - bands that form the fracture reservoir zones of interest.

What is key is just how thick these brittle zones are and how much actual porosity they have over what geographical area. Then it is whether the seal in the overlying shales has maintained its integrity.

GS