In May 2024 Professor Frans van Buchem, Professor Thomas Finkbeiner, PhD candidate Nicolas Boehm and MSc Student Mohammed Aldossary attended the EAGE Hydrocarbon Seal workshop held in Al Khobar. Our team made an important contribution to the success of this workshop through: the technical key note lecture, delivered by Frans van Buchem, oral presentations presented by Thomas Finkbeiner and Nicolas Boehm, and a core display presented by Nicolas Boehm and Mohammed Aldossary. 

The first results on the KAUST drilled and cored HITH BH-02 well, where we obtained a 400 meter thick core spanning the entire Hith and the Arab A-B-C sub-members, were shared with the audience and received much interest. The presented 21-meter segment of this core, offered attendees a hands-on examination of the material. The presentation included detailed insights into the geochemical, petrophysical, and rock mechanical properties of the formations, with a particular emphasis on their implications for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) applications.

The workshop was a notable success, effectively communicating that the Hith and Arab formation evaporites, while highly heterogeneous, form cyclical depositional packages that can be spatially and temporally predicted within the broader basin context.