THE GEOCHEMICAL ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL PETROLEUM ACCUMULATION IN LIVINGSTONE BASIN (KARONGA) MALAWI

The geochemical assessment of potential petroleum source rock is very crucial step in petroleum exploration, since it helps to determine the potential petroleum accumulation in different areas. It facilitate key decision on whether further stages of exploration can be carried out.

This paper has described the assessment of the potential petroleum accumulation in Livingstone basin in Karonga Malawi. The Livingstone basin is a rift basin located in Malawi, Africa. It is part of the east African rift system, which is a zone of active tectonic extension. The basin is approximately 300km long and 100km wide and it is filled with a thick sequence of sedimentary rocks that are up to 10km thick.

The Livingstone basin was formed during the Miocene epoch, approximately 10 million years ago. The formation of the basin was initiated by the rifting of the African continent which was by the movement of Nubian plate away from the Somali plate.

The study methodology includes TOC and Rock eval Pyrosis analysis and it involves the geochemical parameter (TOC, HI, OI, S1, S2 etc.) These parameters helped to classify organic matter richness, kerogen type and their thermal maturity level of hydrocarbons present in collected samples.

It was discovered that the Livingstone Basin has TOC values ranging from 2.29 to 3.80 weight percent, and HI values of 120-270 mgHC/gTOC. These results indicate a very good source rock potential, with type II kerogen and early mature to mature organic matter.