Hydrocarbon Potential of the Mississippian Carbonate Platform, Bechar Basin, Algerian Sahara

Abstract

The western Bechar basin contains a 1500-2000-m-thick Mississippian succession of carbonates consisting of superposed shoaling-upward sequences, whose porosity or diagenesis have never been investigated to establish the reservoir potential of these carbonates. In this paper, we present a diagenetic and porosity evolution of the Visean part of the Mississippian carbonate platform that may lead to the development of new exploration fairways in the region. A diagenetic model is proposed in which ooid and crinoid grainstones may have a reservoir potential if hydrocarbon migration occurred before the end of the Serpukhovian, prior to complete occlusion of porosity.