CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Introduction:-
Sudan is a vast country of approximately 2.5 million square kilometers and a population of about 30 millions. The geology of Sudan is extremely diverse and its interior basin evaluation (Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous) is related to the central Africa Shear Zone. Oil exploration activities in Sudan started in the late fifties in the red sea and in the early seventies in the south central Sudan. Several hydrocarbon fields have been discovered offshore and onshore. With the exception of the limited exploration efforts, which have been directed to evaluate the hydrocarbon potential of south central and west Sudan, most areas are considered to be largely unexplored. In September1995, the government and China National Petroleum Corporation signed EPSA over Block (6). The company has drilled three successful appraisal wells based on seismic work, two of them in Abu- Gabra and one in Sharaf field, which are the main source rock occur within lacustrine synrift sequences. Those source rocks, and their equivalence,are none marine paraffinic(waxy) and of low sulpher content (Schull,1988).In the central of the Muglad Basin the Aptin-Albia synrift sequences are referred to as Abu-Gabra Formation.
1.2 Location of the Study Area:-
The Muglad Basin Complex is the main petroliferous sedimentary basin in the Sudan and represents the western flank of its interior rift basins which are parts of the Central African rift system (Fig 2.1) (Fairhead, 1988). The Muglad Basin Complex, which is about 300 km wide and more than 1200 km long, is predominantly trending NW–SE. It extends from its northern part at the Southern Darfur state, passes southwards through the Southern Kordofan, the Upper Nile and the Equatorial State to link with the Anza Trough in northwestern Kenya (Fig 1.1). The northern end of the Muglad Basin terminates against the metamorphic and igneous complexes of the Darfur Dome, whereas the northwestern part ends at the Baggara...