SOURCE ROCK EVALUATION AND BASIN MODELLING IN THE GORGAN PLAIN, SE SOUTH CASPIAN BASIN, NORTHERN IRAN

Hydrocarbon exploration in the Gorgan Plain to the SE of the South Caspian Basin (northern Iran) has taken place since the 1960s but no economic resources of petroleum have yet been discovered in this area and few studies of potential source rocks have been carried out. In this study, the generation potential and thermal maturity of potential Cenozoic source rocks are investigated on the basis of Rock‐Eval analyses of core and cuttings samples and organic petrographic observations. Hydrocarbon generation, migration and entrapment are evaluated from 2D basin modelling along two seismically‐derived profiles, oriented east‐west and north‐south across the Gorgan Plain area. The models used input data from ten wells.