Unity Field—Sudan
Muglad Rift Basin, Upper Nile Province
NORMAN R. GIEDT
Chevron Overseas Petroleum, Inc.
San Ramon, California
FIELD CLASSIFICATION
BASIN: Muglad
BASIN TYPE: Rift
RESERVOIR ROCK TYPE: Sandstone
RESERVOIR ENVIRONMENT OF
DEPOSITION: Fluvial, Marginal
Lacustrine, and Lacustrine Deltaic
LOCATION
Unity field is located in the Upper Nile province
of south-central Sudan, on the northeast flank of the
intracratonic Muglad rift basin (Figure 1). The
northwest-southeast-trending Muglad basin com-
plex is over 750 km (465 mi) long and in excess of
150 km (95 mi) wide. Khartoum, the capital of Sudan,
is approximately 725 km (450 mi) to the northeast.
The nearest port facility is Port Sudan on the Red
Sea, approximately 1425 km (885 mi) to the northeast
of the field. Twenty-five kilometers (15 mi) to the
southeast of Unity is the village of Bentiu; it lies
on a tributary of the White Nile River, which is an
important transportation link for exploration
operations in the Sudan interior.
Surface elevations in the field area average 1300
ft (400 m) above sea level. Nonmarine Cretaceous
reservoirs underlie surficial Cenozoic deposits as
shown on the geologic map of Sudan (Figure 2).
Precambrian to Cambrian basement crops out at the
surface about 100 km (60 mi) to the northeast of the
field in the Nubian Mountains and over 150 km (90
mi) to the southwest. Shallow basement, less than
1 km (3300 ft) in depth, extends into parts of the
Chevron Sudan Agreement area.
Other discoveries made by Chevron Overseas
Petroleum in the Sudan interior include Heglig,
approximately 68 km (42 mi) to the northwest of
Unity; Kaikang, 60 km (37 mi) to the west; Abu Gabra
and Sharaf, approximately 300 km (185 mi) to the
northwest; and Adar-Yale, 370 km (230 mi) east of
Unity in the Melut basin (Figure 2). Unity and Heglig
fields have the greatest commercial potential; Unity
is the larger and contains approximately 150 million
bbl of recoverable oil of an estimated 600 million bbl
original oil in place.
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RESERVOIR AGE: Cretaceous
PETROLEUM TYPE: Oil
TRAP TYPE: Faulted Anticline
HISTORY
Southern Sudan was essentially unexplored for
hydrocarbons prior to 1974, and no surface indica-
tions of oil or gas were known. The area had been
considered to be a shallow intracratonic sag
containing Tertiary and Cretaceous sediments
overlying possible shallow basement. Chevron
explorationists postulated that deep sedimentary
basins related to Central and East Africa rifting
might exist in the area, and further investigations
were begun (Schull, 1988). The original concession
agreement between the Democratic Republic of
Sudan and Chevron Overseas Petroleum, signed in
1974, covered 516,000 km2 (127,505,700 acres). It was
changed to a Production Sharing Agreement in 1975,
and, after a series of relinquishments and additions,
the Chevron Sudan Agreement Area now totals
228,900 km2 (56,562,109 acres). Royal Dutch Shell
acquired a 25% interest in the entire concession in
1983 and relinquished that interest back to Chevron
in late 1988.
The first well in the Unity area, Unity-1, was
drilled to a depth of 14,483 ft (4417 m) in 1978 3
km (1.8 mi) north of the present limits of the field
(Figure 3). It was the second well drilled by Chevron
in the Sudan interior and it encountered numerous
oil shows between 7500 and 13,000 ft (2290 and 3970
m) in thin and relatively impermeable Upper
Cretaceous nonmarine sandstones. A test of one of
the zones recovered 8 bbl of 38.2° API oil with a 10-
12% wax content and a pour point of 80°F.
The discovery well, Unity-2, completed 28 April
1980 by Parker Rig No. 119, was the twelfth well
to be drilled by Chevron in the Agreement Area. It
was located on a seismically defined four-way dip
closure 15 km (9.3 mi) southeast of Unity-1 on the