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A reservoir comparison of the Ghawar and North dome/South Pars

Fields, world largest oil and gas reservoirs
Behrooz Esrafili-Dizaji

MAPSA Co.
Petroleum Engineering Department

Fig. 1) Locations of the world largest oil (Ghawar) and gas (North Dome/South Pars) fields .

This paper was selected for presentation by http://azut.blogfa.com Reservoir Structures

Both reservoirs, Ghawar and North Dome/South

Reservoir Location
World largest oil (Ghawar) and gas (North
Dome/South Pars) fields are located in the
Persian Gulf Basin (Fig. 1). Reservoir basic data
of these fields for comparison are summarized
in table.1
Pars, have huge anticlinal structures with similar
trends.
In the Persian Gulf Basin, structures that trap
hydrocarbons in these systems are mostly (1)
large, gentle anticlines formed from reactivated
basement fault blocks. These North-trending
highs as exemplified by the En Nala (Ghawar)
anticline and the Qatar Arch (North

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Dome/South Pars). (2) Salt domes that resulted
from halokinesis, or (3) Structural traps
resulting from a combination of these two
processes (Al-Jalal and Alsharhan, 2005;
Pollastro, 2003) (Fig. 2).
Northerly trends that comprise these structures
are interpreted as reflecting the Precambrian
basement architecture. The structures along the
Central Arabian Arch may have originated
during the Amar Collision (640–620 Ma) of the
Rayn Plate (in the east) with the
Arabian-Nubian Craton (in the west), and the
ensuing Najd Rift (570–530 Ma) (Al-Husseini,
2000). Some of the well-known northerly
structural trends are the Summan Platform,
Dibdibah Trough, Khurais-Burgan Anticline,
En Nala (Ghawar-Safaniya) Anticline, and the
Qatar Arch (Ziegler, 2001).
and Adjoining Provinces of Central Saudi
Arabia and Northern Arabian-Persian Gulf. U.S.
Geological Survey Bulletin 2202-H. 107pp.
Ziegler, A.M., Hulver, M.L., Rowley, D.B.,
(1997). Permian world topography and climate,
In: I.P. Martini (Editor), Late glacial and
postglacial environmental changes; Quaternary,
Carboniferous-Permian, and Proterozoic,
Oxford University Press, New York, pp.
111-142.
Ziegler, M., (2001). Late Permian to Holocene
Paleofacies Evolution of the Arabian Plate and
Its Hydrocarbon Occurrences, GeoArabia, vol.
6, no. 3, pp. 445–504.

References:

Al-Husseini, M.I., (2000). Origin of the Arabian

Plate structures: Amar Collision and Najd Rift,
GeoArabia, v. 5, no. 4, p. 527–542.

Al-Jalal, A.I., Alsharhan, A.S., 2005. Arabia

and the Gulf. Elsevier, 140-152pp.

Alsharhan, A.S., Nairn, A.E.M., (1997).

Sedimentary Basins and Petroleum Geology of
the Middle East. Elsevier, Netherlands. 843 pp.

Ehrenberg, S.N., Nadeau, P.H., and Aqrawi,

A.A. M., (2007). A comparison of Khuff and
Arab reservoir potential throughout the Middle
East. AAPG; Bulletin, 86. 1709–1732.

Konert, G., Afifi, A.M., AL-Hajari, S.A.,

Droste, H., (2001). Paleozoic stratigraphy and
hydrocarbon habitat of the Arabian Plate.
GeoArabia. 6, 407–442.

Pollsatro, R.M., Total Petroleum Systems of the

Paleozoic and Jurassic, Greater Ghawar Uplift

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Table. 1) Field data of the Ghawar and North Dome/South Pars Fields.

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Fig. 2) Structure of the Ghawar and North Dome/South Pars reservoirs (Modified after Konert et al.,
2001).

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Fig. 3) Paleogeography and Paleofacies map of Khuff (North Dome/South Pars) and Arab
(Ghawar) reservoir intervals (After Ehrenberg et al., 2007; Ziegler et al., 1997).

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