The present national and international pursuit of converting Egypt into a regional hub of natural gas in the East
Mediterranean region resulted in conducting extensive exploration activities in several areas of northern Egypt.
Therefore, organic petrographic, geochemical, and geophysical analyses were carried out on the upper Khatatba
Formation from the OBA 2-2A well in the Matruh Basin.
Restoration of the original sedimentological and geochemical characteristics of the upper Khatatba Formation
suggest deposition of this formation in deltaic settings. Few shale and partly calcareous shale units of the Upper
Safa and the uppermost Zahra members accumulated in TST in prodelta settings under dysoxic-anoxic conditions. These shale units had an original gas/oil-prone organic facies BC. Other shales and partly calcareous shales of the Upper Safa and Zahra members accumulated in HST in deltafront settings under relatively oxic conditions and had an original lower gas-prone organic facies C. The Upper Safa Member had an original active fair to excellent organic richness (0.76–7.35, avg. 3.38 TOCo (live) wt%) and hydrocarbon source rock potential (S2o: 2.22–17.97, avg. 8.05 mg HC/g org. C). It was characterised mainly by original active mixed gas/oil-prone kerogen type IIIo(live)-IIo(live) (HIo(live): 200.27–297.34, avg. 238.03 mg HC/g TOCo(live)) and subordinately by gas-prone kerogen type IIIo(live) (HIo (live): 181.50 mg HC/g TOCo(live)). The Upper Safa Member had original poor to fair proportions of active oilprone (0.15–1.47, avg 0.68 TOCo(live, oil) wt%) and higher fair to very good proportions of active gas-prone (0.61–5.88, avg. 2.70 TOCo(live, gas) wt%) kerogens. The Upper Safa Member originally possessed poor to very good oil (S2o(oil): 0.44–3.59, avg. 1.16 mg HC/g org. C) and good to very good gas (S2o(gas): 1.77–14.37, avg. 6.44 mg HC/g org. C) generation potential. The carbonates and partly calcareous shales of the uppermost Safa and the Zahra members possessed poor oil and gas generation potential due to their organic-lean status.
The present-day organic geochemical characterization indicates that the Upper Safa Member still shows active
fair to excellent organic richness (0.68–6.75, avg. 3.11 TOCpd(live) wt%). However, this member shows a
relatively lower present-day good to very good/excellent source rock potential (S2pd: 1.33–10.78, avg. 4.83 mg
HC/g rock) and lower active kerogen quality IIIpd(live) (HIpd(live): 115.97–198.21, avg. 151.07 mg HC/g
TOCpd(live)). This is related to the current high thermal maturation (gas-window: Tmax: 459–468, avg. 469 ◦C,
thermal alteration index: TAI of 4-) and conversion of the original kerogen IIIo(live)-IIo(live) into oil and gas. The
present-day high organic richness, high remaining generative potential, high shale volume of the thermally
mature gas-prone kerogen, classify the Upper Safa Member as an active fair to excellent shale gas play in the
Matruh Basin. Intrabasinal and interbasinal correlations across northwestern Egypt indicate that the upper
Khatatba Formation shows locally and regionally dual source and reservoir rock characteristics due to the lateral
facies changes.