Winnie Bett
Graduated MSc Student
Winnie Bett attained her Bachelor’s degree in Geology (B.Sc) from the University of Nairobi, Kenya in 2018. Her interests in the extractive gravitated her path to short-term trainee-ships and projects in different geologic areas in East Africa: the Mesozoic sedimentary Karoo Series onshore Lamu (SE Kenya), gold-hosted Archean greenstone belts on the Tanzanian craton and gem-quality Tsavorites (green Garnets) in the Mozambique Belt. Her MSc project focuses on evaluating source rocks in the Mesozoic strata (Jurassic to Cretaceous) offshore Israel, and their potential to support petroleum systems in the Levant basin.
She likes history, traveling and enjoys nature.
Research subject
Evaluation of Mesozoic source rocks and their potential to support petroleum systems offshore Israel
Following the recent discoveries of large Oligo-Miocene gas reservoirs offshore Israel, Cyprus and Egypt, at the margins and center of the Levant Basin, the piqued interest has inspired exploration efforts for hydrocarbon reservoirs throughout the Levant Basin. Source rock study is critical for the evaluation of viable petroleum systems and their properties: e.g. HC type (i.e., oil, gas, mixed) generated upon thermal maturation, modelling of thermal gradients and their spatial distribution, as well as understanding the likelihood of their existence based on oceanographic and depositional parameters. The assessment of the hydrocarbon potential of the Levant basin will hinge on three approaches: a) Organic and inorganic geochemistry focusing on kerogen type and maturity, b) stratigraphy and c) facies modeling and structural/depositional environment reconstruction. The basis of my analysis will rely on the available Mesozoic sediments from borehole data in the Israeli onshore to shelf and a further understanding gained by extrapolating into the deep basin where the Mesozoic strata are buried much deeper. The OM characterization will be performed using Rock Eval pyrolysis, elemental analysis (CHNOS) and isotope geochemistry (C and N) to evaluate the richness, HC potential, relative maturation index and kerogen type.
