Passive margin evolution and its controls on natural gas leakage in the southern Orange Basin, blocks 3/4, offshore South Africa

Using a 2D seismic dataset that covers part of the southern Orange Basin offshore South Africa, we reconstructed the geological evolution of the basin. This evolutionary model was then used to investigate the occurrence of natural gas within the sedimentary column and the distribution of gas leakage features in relation to the observed sedimentary and tectonic structures developed in the post-rift succession since the Early Cretaceous. The Cretaceous succession has been subdivided into five seismic units. The highest sedimentation rates occur within the Barremian/Aptian (unit C1) and the Turonian/Coniacian (unit C3). Two Cenozoic units (T1 and T2) have been distinguished. These show a sudden decrease in sedimentation rate for the whole of the Cenozoic. Three phases of gravitational tectonics, with two Late Cretaceous phases of mass movement in the northern study area and Cenozoic slumping in the southern study area, have been related to sedimentation rates, sea-level changes, paleoenvironmental evolution and regional tectonics. The occurrence of natural gas leakage follows a coast-parallel distribution within the study area. In the near shore part at water depths shallower than 400 m, massive gas chimneys penetrate through the sediment layers and reach the (near-) surface. Within an intermediate narrow band, between 300 and <500 m water depth, the gas migrates more diffusely through sub-vertical faulted Cretaceous sediments, while in the outer part of the basin, through the Cretaceous and Cenozoic gravitational wedges, only very few signs of gas accumulation and migration can be seen along the faults. A conceptual model has been established with the Aptian source rock generating gas in the outer part of the basin. This source rock underlies the Cenozoic wedge in the south and the thick Cretaceous wedge in the north and is a postulated source for the natural gas within the sedimentary column. This thermogenically generated gas does not migrate directly through the gravitational faults and the above lying sediments, but moves buoyancy driven up-dip along stratigraphic layers, to escape through the sediments to the sea-floor in the inner shelf area.