Pakistan Journal of Geology (PJG) 6(1) (2022) 04-08 Quick Response Code Access this article online Website: www.pakjgeology.com DOI: 10.26480/pjg.01.2022.04.08 Cite The Article: Saleh Emhanna, Eddawi Elhatmi (2022). New Insights into The Unexploited Tahara and Mrar Reservoirs Potential in Ghadames Basin, Libya. Pakistan Journal of Geology, 6(1): 04-08. ISSN: 2521-2915 (Print) ISSN: 2521-2923 (Online) CODEN: PJGABN REVIEW ARTICLE Pakistan Journal of Geology (PJG) DOI: http://doi.org/10.26480/pjg.01.2022.04.08 NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE UNEXPLOITED TAHARA AND MRAR RESERVOIRS POTENTIAL IN GHADAMES BASIN, LIBYA Saleh Emhanna a , Eddawi Elhatmi b a Geological Engineering Department - College of Engineering - University of Ajdabiya, Ajdabiya- Libya b Libyan Petroleum Institute, Tripoli, Libya *Corresponding Author Email: salehemhanna@uoa.edu.ly This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ARTICLE DETAILS ABSTRACT Article History: Received 02 February 2022 Accepted 04 March 2022 Available Online 10 March 2022 Since 1950’s Ghadames Basin is considered as a highly productive petroleum province with a long exploration history in Libya, Algeria, and Tunisia. The ongoing exploration efforts and success of this basin in these countries is a proof of its potential to provide attractive exploration targets in future. Most discoveries in the basin so far have been made in the Acacus Formation as primary target and Wan Kasa and Momenyiat formations as secondary target. As well as small discoveries have been made in the Tahara and Mrar, Ras Hamia and Tanezufft formations. The scope of this project was to study the distribution of Tahara and Mrar formations to look for new potential areas. To provide a better understanding of the structural and stratigraphic framework and regional hydrocarbon prospectivity, A regional N-S cross-section (700 km) through the Ghadames Basin was constructed by using LandMark StratWork software. The information shown on it is based on well logging data from 36 wells. These wells penetrated the Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and the crystalline basement. The correlation of the stratigraphic units between the wells was done using a variety of wireline logs (e.g. gamma-ray, spontaneous potential, resistivity and sonic). The sandstone units in the Tahara and Mrar formation could provide a good opportunity to explore for stratigraphic traps. These intervals are recommended for study in more details in the future using all the available information. KEYWORDS Hydrocarbon Potential, Ghadames Basin, Cross Section, Tahara Formation, Mrar Formation 1. INTRODUCTION Hydrocarbon exploration aims to discover new hydrocarbon reserves in regions of interest and outlining favourable hydrocarbon areas provides meaningful guidance for further exploration decisions (Zhu et al., 2018). The intracratonic Ghadames Basin is located in the northwestern part of Libya and stretches across eastern Algeria and southern Tunisia. The basin covers an area of about 350,000 km 2 ; the maximum sedimentary-fill thicknesses in Algeria are approximately 7000m (Hassan and Kendall, 2014). Since the search for hydrocarbon in the Ghadames Basin in the 1950's the exploration activity has expanded into many of the basin sectors, and several of the discoveries and studies have proven to be important sources of hydrocarbon. Most discoveries in the basin so far have been made in the Acacus Formation as primary target and Wan Kasa and Momenyiat formations as secondary target (Hallet and Clack-Lowes, 2016). Nevertheless, there are more hydrocarbon potential in Ghadames Basin than that was known. In this study, we focus on the formations Tahara (Late Devonian) and Mrar (Early Carboniferous) which are considered promising targets for potential exploration programs in the basin. Discoveries in Tahara and Mrar reservoirs in both Libyan and Algerian side of the basin prove that a working petroleum system is present, potentially charged either Silurian hot shale or Frasnian source rocks. Additionally, numerous other wells in the area reporting hydrocarbon shows in this units. While trying to understand this potential, we tried to cover the basin as whole beyond the political boundaries as it is shared between three countries. Discovering new oil and gas resources and bringing them into production requires an understanding of the geological context and its challenges. A regional cross section (Figure 2) through Libya with borehole data were used to supplement this study. The cross section were built to better understand the underground geological framework and hence the petroleum systems potential. The cross section was built using borehole data from 36 wells using a software called LandMark StratWork. The data used in generating this cross-section are GR, SP and Sonic. In some wells, production testing data for both gas and oil were also used in interpreting the potential. Such data included Drill Stem Testing (DST). Figure 1: Regional boundaries of the Ghadames Basin (EL-Rweimi, 2003).