Geology

Biography

Biography: Mohamed Abdel Kader Barakat

Abstract

The increasing demand for energy and the progressive depletion of crude oil resources have renewed interest in oil shale as an alternative fuel resource especially in Egypt. This paper focuses on studying the potentiality of oil shale in Wassief and Mohamed Rabah mines, Safaga, Red Sea region, by using inorganic and organic techniques. With mineralogical analysis by (XRD of bulk samples) have shown the main component are calcite, kaolinite, quartz and pyrite. While the organic results of samples confirmed that high total organic carbon (TOC) content ranges from 4.34% to 24% in Wassief mine and form 2.17% to 22.69% in Mohamed Rabah mine which considered very good source rock. The examined samples show kerogen of types I and II that prone oil and oil-gas, indicating marine organic matter derived mainly from algae and phytoplankton organisms which proposing typical oil source rock. The average of the potential index (PI) value is 0.02 mg HC/g rock, which indicates the beginning of a considerable amount of oil generation. The Tmax values range from 409 to 423. Based on the Tmax data and PI values, the studied oil shale samples are immature to early mature for hydrocarbon generation. In general, the organic matter of all studied kerogen isolates is immature and lies within the diagenesis state of maturation regardless of the vitrinite reflectance value.