ABSTRACT

Oil exploration activities and research projects undertaken by Arabian Gulf Oil Company, Benghazi has added considerably to the knowledge of the geology of northeast Libya, north of 30°N. The area has four major structural provinces: Cyrenaica Platform, Jabal al Akhdar uplift, Sirual-Marmarica Trough, and Sulouq Depression. A thick Paleozoic subsurface sequence of Cambro-Ordovician to Permo-Carboniferous consisting of shallow to marginal marine sandstone, limestone and shale underlies Mesozoic sediments with a disconformity in the Cyrenaica Platform area. Mesozoic and Tertiary sediments are widely distributed and vary in character and thickness. In Cyrenaica Platform, Triassic sediments are recorded only in a few wells but Jurassic and Early Cretaceous sediments are extensively distributed and are dominantly non-marine to paralic in character. Solouq Depression is a deep Trough with enormous thickness of Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary Carbonates and Shale in excess of 15000 feet. Source rock for hydrocarbon generation seems to occur throughout the area.