U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2010–3027

May 2010

World Petroleum Resources Project

Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the 

Nile Delta Basin Province, Eastern Mediterranean

Printed on recycled paper

T

Introduction

Composite Petroleum System 

and Assessment Units

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated the 

undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Nile Delta Basin 

Province as part of a program aimed at estimating the 

recoverable oil and gas resources of priority basins around 

the world. The province encompasses approximately 

250,000 square kilometers of the eastern Mediterranean 

area (fig. 1). It is bounded to the west by the approximate 

edge of the Nile Cone, to the north by the Strabo, Pytheus, 

and Cyprus Trenches, to the east by the Levant Basin Province boundary, and to the south by the approximate edge of 

compressional structures in northern Egypt (Robertson, 1998; 

Roberts and Peace, 2007), which also corresponds to the 

general updip limit of Neogene deltaic strata in Egypt. This 

assessment was based on published geologic information 

and on commercial data from oil and gas wells, fields, and 

field production. The USGS approach is to define petroleum 

systems and geologic assessment units and assess the potential for undiscovered oil and gas resources.

The Mesozoic-Cenozoic Composite Petroleum System 

was defined to include the possibility of viable source rocks 

of Jurassic, Cretaceous, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, 

and Pleistocene ages (Abdel Aal and others, 2000, 2001; 

Dolson and others, 2001a, b; Vandre and others, 2007). Four 

assessment units (AU) were defined geologically within 

the composite petroleum system. Two of the assessment 

units—Eratosthenes Seamount AU and Mediterranean Ridge 

AU—were defined northward of the Nile Cone but were not 

quantitatively assessed. The two assessed areas are the Nile 

Cone AU and Nile Margin Reservoirs AU (figs. 1 and 2).

Oil and gas were generated from multiple Mesozoic and 

Cenozoic sources including: (1) hypothesized Jurassic marine 

and terrigenous shale; (2) Cretaceous argillaceous shales 

and limestones; (3) Oligocene and Miocene terrigenous 

source rocks; and (4) possibly biogenic sources (Vandre and 

others, 2007). Source rocks are thermally mature in deeper 

parts of the province (Abu El-Ella, 1990; Shaaban and 

others 2006). Petroleum charge is confirmed by more than 

100 producing fields, numerous oil seeps, mud volcanoes, 

and gas chimneys imaged on seismic profiles (Loncke and 

others, 2004). Reservoirs are Mesozoic to Paleogene carbonate and clastic reservoirs and Neogene-Quaternary deltaic, 

nearshore marine, deep-water slope channel, and sheet and 

fan sandstones (Cross and others, 2009; Samuel and others, 

2003) and Messinian-age (latest Miocene) incised-valley-fill 

deposits (Dolson and others, 2001a). Traps are structural and 

stratigraphic with numerous modifications because of inversion, salt removal, normal faults, growth faults, and mass 

transport (Loncke and others, 2006). Migration was enhanced 

by major intersecting fault systems. Lithologic and diagenetic seals were effective in creating pressure compartments 

(Nashaat, 1998).

The Nile Margin Reservoirs AU is assumed to be 

sourced from deeper thermally mature source rocks, but 

currently only one oil field of minimum size is present in the 

AU. The Nile Cone AU is thought to be sourced mainly from 

thermally mature Neogene deltaic source rocks, but also there 

might be a significant biogenic gas component (Vandre and 

others, 2007). The Nile Cone AU contains two oil fields and 

126 gas fields.

The geologic model used in the assessment of the 

Nile Delta Basin was derived from comparison of geologic 

analogs, oil and gas production data, proved reserves, and 

potential oil and gas resources for the maturely explored 

Niger Delta Province (Brownfield and others, 2010). The 
Figure 1.  Location of four assessment units in the Nile Delta Basin Province in the eastern Mediterranean. (Map not definitive for political

boundaries.)

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Mediterranean Sea

Red 

 Sea

27°E 28°E 29°E 30°E 31°E 32°E 33°E 34°E 35°E 36°E

36°N

35°N

34°N

33°N

32°N

31°N

30°N

29°N

0 50 100 MILES

0 50 100 KILOMETERS

Mediterranean 

Ridge Assessment Unit

EGYPT

ISRAEL

CYPRUS

TURKEY

JORDAN

SYRIA

LEBANON Strabo Trench

Pytheus Trench

Cyprus Trench

EXPLANATION

! Gas fields

! Oil fields

Nile Cone 

Assessment Unit

Nile 

 Margin 

 Reservoirs

 Assessment Unit

 Eratosthenes Seamount

 Assessment Unit

TURKEY

EGYPT

SAUDI

ARABIA

Mediterranean 

Sea

GREECE ITALY

A

A’

LIBYA

Limit of 

 compressional 

 structures

Levant Basin Province

West

Bank

Gaza 

Strip

USGS used a minimum undiscovered field size of 5 million 

barrels of oil equivalent (MMBOE).

Assessment Results

Estimates of volumes of undiscovered technically 

recoverable oil and gas resources are shown in table 1. 

The mean of the distribution for undiscovered oil is about 

1,763 million barrels of oil (MMBO), with a range from 

491 MMBO to 4,266 MMBO. For undiscovered gas, the 

total mean volume is 223,242 billion cubic feet of gas 

(BCFG), with a range from 92,614 to 425,935 BCFG. For 

natural gas liquids, the total mean volume is 5,974 million 

barrels of natural gas liquids (MMBNGL), with a range of 

2,451 to 11,464 MMBNGL. By far the largest resource is 

estimated to be in the Nile Cone AU, with a mean volume of 

217,313 BCFG and 5,789 MMBNGL. These estimates represent technically recoverable oil and gas resources; no attempt 

was made to estimate economically recoverable resources.

References Cited

Abu El-Ella, Ramadan, 1990, Maturation history of NeogeneQuaternary sediments, Nile Delta Basin, Egypt: American 

Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 74, no. 1, 

p. 77–84.

Abdel Aal, A., El Barkooy, A., Gerrits, M., Meyer, H., 

Schwander, M., and Zaki, H., 2000, Tectonic evolution of 

the eastern Mediterranean Basin and its significance for the 

hydrocarbon prospectively in the ultra-deepwater of the Nile 

Delta: The Leading Edge, October 2000, p. 1086–1102.

Abdel Aal, Ahmed, El Barkooky, Ahmed, Gerrits, Marc, Meyer, 

Hans-Jurg, Schwander, Marcus, and Zaki, Hala, 2001, 

Tectonic evolution of the eastern Mediterranean Basin and 

its significance for the hydrocarbon prospectively of the Nile 

Delta deepwater area: GeoArabia, v. 6, no. 3, p. 363–384.

Barber, P.M., 1981, Messinian subaerial erosion of the protoNile Delta: Marine Geology, v. 44, p. 253–272.
Figure 2.  Schematic geologic cross section of the Nile Delta Basin Province illustrating the geologic definition of three of the four

assessment units (AU) in this study (dotted red lines): Nile Margin Reservoir AU, Nile Cone AU, and Eratosthenes Seamount AU. The fourth

AU, Mediterranean Ridge, is out of the plane of the cross section. Modified from Barber (1981) and Abdel Aal and others (2000). Location of

projected section shown in figure 1. 1, Miocene (post-Messinian) and Pliocene-Quaternary; 2, Messinian Salt; 3, Miocene (pre-Messinian);

4, Paleogene-Cretaceous; 5, hypothesized pre-Cretaceous; 6, Eratosthenes Seamount.

Fault

0

2

4

6

8

Depth (kilometers)

0 30 KILOMETERS

0 18 MILES

Southwest Northeast

A A’

EXPLANATION

Eratosthenes

Seamount

Reservoirs

Assessment

Unit

Nile Cone Assessment Unit

Nile Margin 

Reservoirs Assessment Unit

1

2

3

4

5

6

Table 1.  Nile Delta Basin Province assessment results.

[MMBO, million barrels of oil. BCFG, billion cubic feet of gas. MMBNGL, million barrels of natural gas liquids. Results shown are fully risked estimates. For gas accumulations, all liquids are included as NGL (natural gas liquids). Undiscovered gas resources are the sum of nonassociated and associated gas. F95 represents a 95 percent chance

of at least the amount tabulated; other fractiles are defined similarly. Largest expected oil field in MMBO; largest expected gas field in BCFG. TPS, total petroleum system;

AU, assessment unit. Gray shading indicates not applicable]

Total Petroleum Systems 

(TPS) 

and Assessment Units (AU)

Field

type

Expected

largest

mean

field size

Total undiscovered resources

Oil (MMBO) Gas (BCFG) NGL (MMBNGL)

F95 F50 F5 Mean F95 F50 F5 Mean F95 F50 F5 Mean

Nile Delta Basin Province, Mesozoic-Cenozoic Composite TPS

Nile Margin Reservoirs AU

Oil 214 449 1,150 2,600 1,288 551 1,425 3,237 1,597 11 29 66 32

Gas 766 698 2,193 5,750 2,574 21 68 181 80

Nile Cone AU

Oil 311 42 256 1,666 475 152 930 6,123 1,758 6 38 255 73

Gas 17,194 91,213 197,850 410,825 217,313 2,413 5,269 10,962 5,789

Eratosthenes Seamount AU Not quantitively assessed

Mediterranean Ridge AU Not quantitively assessed

Total Conventional

 Resources 491 1,406 4,266 1,763 92,614 202,398 425,935 223,242 2,451 5,404 11,464 5,974

Brownfield, M.E, Charpentier, R.R., Cook, T.A., Klett, T.R., 

Pitman, J.K., Pollastro, R.M., Schenk, C.J., and Tennyson, M.E., 2010, Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas 

resources of four West Africa geologic provinces: U.S. 

Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2010–3006, 2 p.

Cross, N.E., Cummingham Alan, Cook, R.J., Taha, Amal, 

Esmaie, Eslam, and El Swidan, Nasar, 2009, Threedimensional seismic geomorphology of a deep-water slopechannel system: The Sequoia field, offshore west Nile Delta, 

Egypt: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, v. 93, 

no. 8, p. 1063–1086.

Dolson, J.C., Shann, M.V., Matbouly, Sayed, Harwood, Colin, 

Rashed, Rashed, and Hammouda, Hussein, 2001a, in

Downey, M.W., Threet, J.C., and Morgan, W.A., eds., The 

petroleum potential of Egypt: Petroleum provinces of the 

twenty-first century: American Association of Petroleum 

Geologists Memoir No. 74, p. 453–482.

Dolson, J.C., Shann, M.V., Matbouly, S.I., Hammouda, Hussein, 

and Rashed, R.M., 2001b, Egypt in the twenty-first century: 

petroleum potential in offshore trends: GeoArabia, v. 6, no. 2, 

p. 211–230.
Loncke, Lies, Mascle, Jean, and the Fanil Scientific Parties, 

2004, Mud volcanoes, gas chimneys, pockmarks and mounds 

in the Nile deep-sea fan (Eastern Mediterranean): Geophysical evidences: Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 21, 

p. 669–689.

Loncke, Lies, Gaullier, Virginie, Mascle, Jean, Vendeville, 

Bruno, and Camera, Laurent, 2006, The Nile deep-sea fan: 

An example of interacting sedimentation, salt tectonics, and 

inherited subsalt paleotopographic features: Marine and 

Petroleum Geology, v. 23, p. 297–315.

Nashaat, M., 1998, Abnormally high formation pressure and 

seal impacts on hydrocarbon accumulations in the Nile Delta 

and North Sinai Basins, Egypt, in Law, B.E., Ulmishek, G.F., 

and Slavin, V.I., eds., Abnormal pressures in hydrocarbon 

environments: American Association of Petroleum Geologists 

Memoir no. 70, p. 161–180.

Roberts, Glyn, and Peace, David, 2007, Hydrocarbon plays and 

prospectively of the Levantine Basin, offshore Lebanon and 

Syria from modern seismic data: GeoArabia, v. 12, no. 3, 

p. 99–124.

Robertson, A.H.F., 1998, Mesozoic-Tertiary tectonic evolution of the easternmost Mediterranean area: Integration of 

marine and land evidence, in Robertson, A.H.F., Emeis, 

K.C., Richter, C., and Camerlenghi, A., eds., Proceedings 

of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, v. 160, 

p. 723–782.

Samuel, Andy, Kneller, Ben, Raslan, Samir, Sharp, Andy, and 

Parsons, Cormac, 2003, Prolific deep-marine slope channels 

of the Nile Delta, Egypt: American Association of Petroleum 

Geologists, v. 87, no. 4, p. 541–560.

Shaaban, F., Lutz, R., Littke, R., Bueker, C., and Odisho, K., 

2006, Source-rock evaluation and basin modeling in NE 

Egypt (NE Nile Delta and northern Sinai): Journal of Petroleum Geology, v. 29, no. 2, p. 103–124.

Vandre, Claudius, Cramer, Berhard, Gerling, Peter, and 

Winsemann, Jutta, 2007, Natural gas formation in the western 

Nile delta (Eastern Mediterranean): Thermogenic versus 

microbial: Organic Geochemistry, v. 38, p. 523–539.