What controls reservoir quality in carbonate oil reservoirs?: Thamama Group, U.A.E.

The Lower Cretaceous Thamama Group is one of the largest oil reservoirs in the
world. It hosts between 5-10% of world oil, and underlies most of the Arabian Gulf – from
Oman, through the U.A.E. (Abu Dhabi), to Saudi Arabia. There are many fields in this
Group, yet the controls on its porosity and permeability are still poorly understood1. In
particular, it is uncertain if the key control on reservoir quality is depositional facies, or
syndepositional and shallow burial cementation, or if several episodes of oil charge and
leakage have preserved porosity in some areas2 whilst permitting cementation to destroy
reservoir quality in others. This project will undertake a regional study of the Group to
discriminate between these hypotheses. This will enable a better estimates of oil reserves,
and an increase in production potentia