Carbonate platforms around the world contain significant hydrocarbon reserves, and the Late Cretaceous carbonates of the Middle East include many prolific reservoirs. However, elements of these reservoirs are still poorly constrained. This study provides an evaluation of fracture heterogeneities and connectivity within carbonate deposits of the Natih Formation in a salt cored dome that crops out in the Adam Foothills of northern Oman. The Natih E is a significant producing unit throughout the Middle East. Natih shallow-water carbonates were deposited on a Cenomanian carbonate platform, and in the Jebel Madar area are comprised of skeletal peloidal wackestones, packstones and grainstones. Permeability of potential reservoir intervals is thought to be largely dependent on an extensive fracture network, comprised of multiple generations of fractures. This study examines the complex outcrop fracture pattern of the Natih Formation through field mapping and photorealistic LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) image analysis. An evaluation of the mechanical stratigraphy reveals that bed-bounded fractures occur largely in wackestone layers, which are connected by through-going fractures. The dominant fracture orientations at Jebel Madar are NNW-SSE and NNE- SSW, and the secondary orientations are NW-SE and ENE-SSE. Three tectonic events are largely responsible for the development of the fracture system at Jebel Madar: obduction of the Semail ophiolite (Campanian), uplift and exhumation of the Oman Mountains (Miocene), and localized salt doming (Late Cretaceous and Miocene). Fractures at Jebel Madar are primarily radial and concentric in orientation and are interpreted to have developed predominantly through folding associated with active salt diapirism.

Carbonate platforms around the world contain significant hydrocarbon reserves, and the Late Cretaceous carbonates of the Middle East include many prolific reservoirs. However, elements of these reservoirs are still poorly constrained. This study provides an evaluation of fracture heterogeneities and...