Architecture and exploration target areas of the Senegal Basin, West Africa

The recent discovery of large oil and gas fields in the deep-water of the Senegal Basin has drawn global attention. Despite this, several exploration wells in this area fail, which can be primarily contributed to a lack of understanding of the basin's structures and hydrocarbon accumulation conditions. This study examines these characteristics utilizing gravity, seismic and drilling data, and finally makes a comparison with the Cote d'Ivoire Basin, a typical transform margin basin in the South Atlantic. The results suggest that the Senegal Basin, influenced by multiple transform faults and a weak Paleozoic basement, experienced three evolutionary stages: rifting, transitional, and drifting. Each stage contributed to the development of distinct depositional sequences - syn-rift sequences, sag sequences, and continental margin sequences, respectively. The Triassic - Early Jurassic rifting stage predominantly formed continental deposits, like fluvial, lacustrine, and deltaic deposits, in the syn-rift sequences. The Middle-Late Jurassic transitional stage, influenced by transform faults, witnessed the formation of marginal ridges or submarine uplift zones. These zones, in conjunction with landward high terrains, formed a restricted environment promoting the development of source rocks in the sag sequences. During the drifting stage, three types of reservoirs, namely platform carbonate rocks, deltas, and slope-floor fans were formed. Notably, large-scale hydrocarbon reservoirs have been found in the deltas and the slope-floor fans both in the Senegal Basin and the Cote d'Ivoire Basin. The Upper Jurassic - Aptian platforms exhibit thick carbonate rocks and organic reefs on their edges, suggesting substantial potential for hydrocarbon exploration in the Senegal Basin.