Hydrocarbon perspective of the Alay Basin, Kyrgyzstan

Along with Tajik Basin and the Southwest Southwest Depression of Tarim Basin, Alay Basin was one of the remnant basins on the north rim of the Tethys during the Late Triassic to Paleogene, it became a peripheral foreland basin in Miocene. It is estimated that the maximum thickness of sediments is approximately 8000 m in the south. The sediments become significantly thiner to the north. Based on correlation with other nearby basins, it is predicted that the Cretaceous limestone and the Paleogene black shale/mustone are present in the subsurface of the basin. The coal-bearing Jurassic is likely the source rock. The reservoirs should be developed in faulted anticlines of Cretaceous and Paleogene rocks, and possibly Neogene sediments. However, no reservoir was found in Well Alay-1 which was drilled in 1991. It is probably due to penetration of the oil-water transition zone. The Alay Basin possesses considerable hydrocarbon potential.