Interpretation of geophysical data and contribution to improving the knowledge of an oil and gas lead from the Congo Basin: Case of lead A in block 7 of the Cuvette Centrale basin in DR Congo

The purpose of the present work is to use gravity and magnetic data to improve the knowledge of the lead A of the petroleum block 7 of the Cuvette Centrale sedimentary basin in the DR Congo. These data were processed using the regionalresidual separation method in order to make a detailed study of the basement and the thick sedimentary cover. As a result, we noticed that this lead rests on a basement uplift zone wedged between the sub-basins of Busira in the west and Lomami in the east. It is therefore an ideal location to receive the oil and gas expelled from these two depocenters. The horizontal derivative maps allowed us to identify the multiple faults that cut into the geological formations due to compressive events and the lifting of the dome-shaped basement at this location. Thanks to 3D modeling we found that the compression that caused this significant uplift of the basement generated several antiform folds and salt domes above this large dome. The HalfWidth method was used to estimate the depth of certain identified sources. The integration of the R9 seismic profile in the interpretation of the data allowed us to have a much clearer picture on the important oil targets in this lead. At the end of this study we established a petroleum structural map of the region which improves our knowledge on the structures of petroleum interest having played a major role both in the process of migration of hydrocarbons and in their trapping.