Petroleum geological characteristics and prospecting direction of Ghadames basin in North Africa

Located in North Africa,Ghadames basin belongs to Paleozoic intracratonic depression basin,presenting overall high in east west and low in west,and tectonic framework of high in south and low in north,with NE-SW low-amplitude structure.The basin mainly experienced four big tectonic movements,deposited Paleozoic Cambrian-carboniferous and the Cenozoic sedimentary cap rock cover,being with superior petroleum geological conditions.The most im-portant source rocks are in Silurian Tanezzuft and radioactive marine shale of the upper Devonian Aouinet Ouenine group.A total of six sets of sandstone reservoir have been developed,and the main reservoir is Triassic sandstone.Under the Triassic- Jurassic,the evaporite and mud shale have been widely developed,acting as regional cap rocks,which effectively blocks the oil and gas.In addition,trap types are rich in the basin and the time and space relationship between accumulation elements is good.At present,the exploration targets are the shallow structural traps.However,recent findings suggest that large exploration prospects exist in deep vision area,stratigraphic trap and part of the Triassic reservoir basin,which may become important exploration direction in the next step.