Geochemical Characteristics and Genetic Classification of Jordanian Oils: Implications for Organic Input, Depositional Settings, and Thermal Maturity

ABSTRACT Jordan occupies the northern part of the Arabian Plate and has limited petroleum production, in contrast to the petroleum‐rich Saudi Arabia and Iraq. This challenges the petroleum source rock systems there. The present study provides data on carbon isotopic components, lipid biomarkers, liquid hydrocarbon (HC) compounds, American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity, and sulfur content measured for oils, asphalts, and extracts from the Azraq, Wadi Sirhan, Dead Sea, and North Heights basins in Jordan. API gravity and sulfur content data are separated between the Hamza oils (mainly moderately weighted sweet oils), the Dead Sea oils (moderate‐to‐heavy sour oils), and the Ghareb asphalt (sour heavy HC). Liquid chromatography indicated naphthenic oils in the Dead Sea extracts and asphalt, paraffinic oils in the Wadi Sirhan oils, North Heights oils, Dead Sea oils, and most Hamza oil samples, and paraffinic‐naphthenic and aromatic–naphthenic oils in the Ghareb asphalts. Saturated and aromatic carbon isotopes and lipid biomarkers suggest a mixed marine organic matter input that was deposited in a reducing environment. Gammacerane indices indicate deposition in very saltish water for the Ghareb asphalts and the Dead Sea oils and in saltish water for the Hamza oils, Dead Sea asphalt, and North Heights oil. The studied oils can be categorized into five HC families: I, II, III, IV, and V, belonging to Hamza oils, Ghareb asphalts, Wadi Sirhan oils, Dead Sea oils, and North Heights oils. Thermal maturity parameters like carbon preference index (CPI), Ts/Ts+Tm, SARA components, and API gravity separate the immature samples of Ghareb asphalts and Dead Sea asphalt and extracts from the middle to peak thermally mature Hamza, Dead Sea, and Wadi Sirhan oils. Oil/source correlation shows good linkage of the studied oils with previously studied source beds, including Hamza oils (Family I) with Cenomanian–Turonian source rock extracts, the Ghareb asphalts (Family II) with Maastrichtian shales in the Azraq basin, and the Wadi Sirhan oils (Family III) with the Late Ordovician‐Early Silurian source extracts from the Risha Field. Applying such successful oil/source correlations across Jordanian basins can guide new exploration successes in Jordan.