An Updated Chronostratigraphic Framework for the Jurassic of the Arabian Platform: Towards a Regional Stratigraphic Standard*

The past few decades the focus of hydrocarbon exploration and production in the Middle East progressively has moved to deeper/older plays. In fact, the Jurassic succession of the Arabian Platform is now among the major hydrocarbon-producing intervals of the Middle East. On this platform, widespread carbonate deposition resulted in a vertical and lateral mosaic of shallow-water facies adjacent to deeper water coarser-grained deposits. An improved high-resolution sequence stratigraphic framework is crucial for building highly resolved geological models for reservoir distribution and characterization. Currently, there is a good understanding of the structural features of the Jurassic in the region, primarily based on sedimentology and seismic mapping (Yousif and Nouman, 1995, 1997; Haq and Al-Qahtani, 2005, Figure 1). However, in order to start understanding the genesis and sequence stratigraphic position of Jurassic plays, a firm chronostratigraphic framework is essential. Unfortunately, the application of a single, routinely used biostratigraphic tool appears problematic in the generally carbonate-rich and oil-saturated depositional systems of the Jurassic of the Arabian Platform. Here we present the results of a multidisciplinary study performed with the aim of constructing a chronostratigraphic framework for the Jurassic of West Kuwait, an area that hosts an important Jurassic hydrocarbon play.