International Journal of Petroleum Engineering ISSN 5675-0715 Vol. 1 (3) pp. 041-045, December, 2014. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Advancement of simple correspondence to assess the petroleum prospective of Quseir - Safaga oil shale, Egypt
*Hosni Morsi, Abdel Mubarak and Ahmed Tawfiq Nasser
Department of Petroleum and Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.
E-mail:[email protected]
Accepted 25 November, 2014
Abstract
The specific gravity of oil shale can be used as a practical tool for estimating total organic carbon (TOC) and the oil yield of shales from a given source. Sixteen random oil shale samples, mostly from the Upper Cretaceous Duwi Formation in Quseir - Safaga district in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, were collected. Experiments were conducted to determine the density, TOC and oil yield of such samples. The study has developed empirical correlations that show good relationships between the oil shale density (solid organic and mineral density), its TOC and oil yield. Validation of these correlations has been verified by examining two more samples and tested mathematically. The obtained results of TOC and oil yield from the correlations were not as reliable as values obtained from the experimental work especially for the lower TOC samples. The average error has been evaluated to be 15.9%. However, they are accurate enough for certain processes like oil shale processing, where time and equipment restrictions do not allow experimental determination of the TOC and oil yield, and rapid results are desired. These correlations provide a convenient, nondestructive and rapid means of estimating the oil yield and TOC of shales from the same formation.
Key words: Quseir - Safaga oil shale, correlations, total organic carbon, oil yield.