The lithofacies paleogeography of the Arabian Plate and its control on the hydrocarbon accumulation.

The Arabian Plate has been a relatively stable block since the Cambrian, and its oil and gas reserves account for an important position in the world. In recent years, Paleozoic reservoirs have become the main oil and gas discoveries in this area. By investigating the references of the Middle East region and petroliferous basins, combined with the distribution characteristics of oil and gas reservoirs, we compile the lithofacies paleogeographic maps of the Arabian Plate in six geological periods, including Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Early Permian and Late Permian, and analyze the control of oil and gas enrichment characteristics. The results show that: (1) From Cambrian to Silurian, the Arabian Plate was dominated by continental and shallow marine environment, and the rapid transgression in the Early Silurian formed hot shale, which provided a solid material basis for the generation of Paleozoic oil and gas; (2) From Devonian to Carboniferous, Hercynian tectonic event caused uplift and denudation, which enabled Silurian source rocks to migrate vertically/laterally to Permian reservoirs; (3) The Early Permian is dominated by clastic rocks, while the Late Permian is dominated by marine and restricted marine environments, forming high-quality reservoir cap assemblages dominated by carbonate reservoirs and evaporite cap rocks; (4) The discovered oil and gas reservoirs are mainly distributed in Cambrian-Silurian clastic rocks, Lower Permian continental and transitional clastic rocks and carbonate rocks, and Upper Permian marine carbonate reservoirs. The Upper Permian carbonate rocks are the most important reservoirs. The extensive distribution of Silurian hot shale, basement inherited structures and pre-Cambrian salt domes provide favorable oil and gas accumulation conditions for Paleozoic oil and gas accumulation.