Integrate History, hydrocarbons

Despite the common assumption of fault sealing in hydrocarbon fields, very few faults have been characterised in the detail needed which allows identification of the sealing mechanism or controls. Without the construction of a robust set of case histories from such analysis, future seal evaluation will remain a high risk venture. These case histories are also needed to integrate seal behaviour with pressure test, production and in situ stress analysis. The paper has highlighted the importance of an integrated approach from micro to macro and stressed the value of core-based studies to quantify fault rock properties, sub-seismic fault populations and sealing mechanisms. 

For brevity, the details of the tectonic and thermal histories are given only for the northern Oued el-Mya Basin. Directly relevant thermal features for hydrocarbon generation are reported for the Ghadames and Illizi Basins. Geochemical and modeling data acquired for areas in other basins have been compiled and integrated into the regional synthesis and conclusions. 

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