The North African Neoproterozoic, Phanerozoic Sedimentary Basins: Tectonostratigraphic Events, Lithostratigraphy, Petroleum Systems

North Africa has a rich geological history and is enriched with different geological settings, as well as rich petroleum resources, including conventional and unconventional resources. This chapter will highlight the major tectonostratigraphic events and lithostratigraphy of the Phanerozoic Eon and Neoproterozoic Eon and major related basins, as well as major sedimentary basins in North Africa and their petroleum resources. North Africa's sedimentary basins are mostly composed of shallow marine and continental sediments of the Cambrian to Recent that mostly overlay the Precambrian basement. The interplay of tectonics, eustacy, erosions, uplift, and subsidence played a major role in the sedimentary record of the North African sedimentary basins, and therefore they formed a complex history of deposition. The organic-rich sediments of the Silurian and Cretaceous deposits play a major role in feeding the reservoirs with oil and gas across north Africa. The reservoir rocks have been recorded across the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic successions; however, the Mesozoic and Cenozoic reservoirs are dominant. Both structural and stratigraphic entrapment styles were recorded across the hydrocarbon plays of North Africa. More attention can be directed to exploiting the unconventional resources that are still underexplored in the North African basins.