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Geological Characterization of the Miocene–Pliocene Succession in the Semliki Basin, Uganda: Implications for Hydrocarbon Exploration and Drilling in the East African Rift System

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Abstract

The Albertine Graben, an active sedimentary petroliferous basin, has gained global attention as the unexplored areas are recently being targeted for hydrocarbon prospectivity. Here, we present the first detailed geological investigation of the Upper Miocene–Pliocene clastic interval in the southern Lake Albert, part of the Semliki Basin. We employed an integrated approach that includes source rock evaluation, reservoir characterization, pore pressure, and geomechanical evaluation. Thermal maturity analyzed from vitrinite reflectance, spore color index, and Rock–Eval Tmax indicates that the Lower Kasande–Kakara shales are into the early catagenetic maturity, and the onset of oil window occurs at around 2550 m. With 1.8–2.4% total organic carbon content and dead carbon-free hydrogen index of ~ 600 mg S2/g TOC, a Type I/II oil-prone source rock was inferred, while the state of the thermal maturity reflects on the relatively low free oil yields associated with a poor oil production index. The quartz arenite reservoirs of the Upper Miocene Kasande–Kakara Formation exhibit excellent petrophysical characteristics and possess pore pressure gradients of 0.17–0.24 psi/ft (1 psi/ft = 22.6206 Mpa/km) in two distinct zones (2040.7–2221.5 m and 2554.7–2730 m) with gross vertical thickness of ~ 206 m. The region belongs to a normal faulting tectonic regime where the vertical stress gradient is 0.91–0.93 psi/ft with a lower bound of minimum horizontal stress gradient interpreted as 0.62 psi/ft. The hydrostatically pressured Miocene shales have higher shear failure gradients and exhibited extensive wellbore failures. The implications of geological characterization in both hydrocarbon exploration and future drilling in the basin are envisaged in this research.

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Figure 1
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adapted from Lukaye et al., 2016)

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Notes

  1. 1 bopd = 0.1589 cubic meter per day.

  2. 1 psi/ft = 22.6206 MPa/km.

  3. 1 mD (millidarcy) = 0.986923 * 10–15 m2.

  4. 1 ppg (pound per gallon) = 1.177 kPa/m.

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Acknowledgments

Authors express their sincere gratitude to Professor John Carranza, Editor-in-Chief and the two learned reviewers for their critical suggestions and constructive reviews which benefited the manuscript. Authors are grateful to the Government of Uganda and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, for providing the opportunity to use the dataset and permission to publish this work. Authors thank Dr. Sumit Verma, Mr. Jozef Szypulski (University of Texas Permian Basin) and Dr. S. Watson (Aarhus University, Denmark) for their assistance in improving the readability of the manuscript. Geologix Limited is acknowledged for providing access to the GEO Suite of software which had been instrumental for various analyses. The interpretation presented in this work is sole of authors and does not necessarily represent their respective organizations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geoscience, King Ceasor University, Plot 32 King Ceasor Road, Kampala, Uganda

    Stephen Mutebi

  2. Dynasty Building, Geologix Limited, Wing A, Level 4, Andheri Kurla Road, Andheri (E), Mumbai, Maharashtra, 400059, India

    Souvik Sen

  3. Directorate of Petroleum-Uganda, Plot 21, 29 Johnstone Road, Entebbe, Uganda

    Tonny Sserubiri

  4. Lithospheric Organic Carbon (L.O.C.) Group, Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, 8000, Aarhus, Denmark

    Arka Rudra

  5. Marine and Deep Seismics Research Group, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Uppal Road, Hyderabad, Telangana State, 500007, India

    Shib Sankar Ganguli

  6. Faculty of Geography and Geology, Institute of Geological Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 3a, 30-387, Kraków, Poland

    Ahmed E. Radwan

  7. Exploration Department, Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company, Cairo, Egypt

    Ahmed E. Radwan

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Mutebi, S., Sen, S., Sserubiri, T. et al. Geological Characterization of the Miocene–Pliocene Succession in the Semliki Basin, Uganda: Implications for Hydrocarbon Exploration and Drilling in the East African Rift System. Nat Resour Res 30, 4329–4354 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-021-09951-0

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