Hydrocarbon Generating Basins and Migration Pathways in Gulf of Suez

The well known oil province of the Gulf of Suez (GOS)represents the north of the Great East African Rift System in Egypt. Since the beginning of the last century, the GOS has been a highly prospective area for petroleum exploration , where the history of oil-producing fields started in 1886 with the discovery of Gemsa oil field. The process of rifting and the accompanying activities including faulting, deposition, uplift, and erosion are thought to have significantly affected the petroleum systems in the GOS. This book give an idea about the influence of rifting on the processes of the organic matter maturation, hydrocarbon generation, expulsion and migration, as well as the control of rifting on preservation of accumulated hydrocarbons in the GOS. The time of petroleum expulsion and migration relative to the time of the main trap forming tectonic events is important, as the latter have a direct impact on petroleum accumulation and thus its preservation in the trap. Maturation and hydrocarbon generation, migration, and entrapment are affected and controlled by the events immediately preceding the stage of peak-generation of hydrocarbons and their expulsion.