Fluid Inclusions Usage for Assessing Oil Migration in Duhok, North of Iraq

Studies of primary and secondary fluid inclusions were done on epigenetic barite samples which collected from carbonates in Lower part of Sarmord Formation (Lower Cretaceous and Aqra-Bekhme Formations (Upper Cretaceous) in Duhok localities of North of Iraq. Lead isotopes composition in galena which associated barite that contained fluid inclusions helped the identification two events of fluid inclusions. These fluid inclusions contain brine water and hydrocarbons. Primary and secondary fluid inclusions in barite as well as lead isotopes composition in galena helped the interpretation of oil migration history and the pathway of oil migration. Ages of galena are syngronous with the events of oil and water trapping as inclusions within barite, and hence the interpreted galena generation could be assigned to the fluid inclusions age. Accordingly, the events are two phases of early and late generations that correspond to 120 m.y. and 30 m.y. respectively. Correlation with 10 PetroMod basin modeling of the generated oil from the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous Formations fitted with the event of early galena generation, whereas the oil migration started before 70 m.y and continued to 30 m.y ago. Palynomorphs study confirms that the oil in source rocks is similar with the migrated oil

Oil-polluted groundwater in central and west Iraq as indicator of potential new hydrocarbon plays

The old land of Iraq is characterized by the presence of many oil seepages that date back to the Babylonian time. During the last few years, the country has witnessed an accelerating pattern of earthquakes that may have activated some of the major old faults and released entrapped hydrocarbons that eventually mixed with groundwater. The recent phenomenon of mixing hydrocarbons with this water has resulted in significant economic losses. Many geochemical analyses were conducted for four samples of oil contaminated with groundwater in the Karbala and Najaf regions and compared them with five samples of seep oil in the Ramadi region and one sample of bitumen extracted from the Lower Fars (Fatha) formation of Kifl-1 oil well, to find out the origin of these oils and to identify potential reservoirs that could hold important undiscovered oil reserves. Results indicate that the groundwater oils were highly mature and originated from Lower Cretaceous carbonate sources deposited under upwelling deep water, anoxic conditions. This is roughly corresponding to the bitumen extract sample of the Lower Fars Formation taken from the Kifl-1 oil well, confirming that these oils belong to the reservoir units in this formation and may therefore contain economically amounts of oil