<p>The Mushorah Formation (Late Cretaceous) in Northwestern Iraq is equivalent to the Rmah Chert Formation in the Euphrates Graben of Syria and the Karababa Formation in southeast Turkey. These two formations in Syria and Turkey contain productive source rock intervals. In the present study, nineteen core and rock cutting samples from the Mushorah Formation in the Sufaya and Ain Zala oilfields were analyzed for Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and Rock-Eval pyrolysis to assess hydrocarbon generation potential. Bitumen was extracted from the highest TOC samples and analyzed by Gas Chromatography (GC) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) to determine hydrocarbon and biomarker distributions, respectively. The Mushorah Formation samples have relatively low percentages of TOC (0.16 to 0.92%) and S2 (0.42–3.04&#xa0;mg HC/g); indicating low potential for hydrocarbon generation. Organic matter of the Mushora Formation consists primarily of a mixture of marine (type II) and marine/terrigenous (type II/III) organic matter. Regular sterane distributions show equal values of C₂₇, C₂₈, and C₂₉ steranes, a low terrigenous to aquatic ratio (TAR = 0.01–0.16), the unimodal distributions of the normal alkanes, maximizing at <i>n</i>-C₁₇, and an average carbon preference index (CPI) value of 0.95; all indicating a high contribution of marine organic matter. The average Tmax values are &lt; 430 ^oC, the C₃₂ 22&#xa0;S/(22&#xa0;S + 22R) reached the equilibrium value (0.59–0.63), while C₂₉ 20&#xa0;S/20S + 20R (0.31–0.37) and C₂₉ ββ/αα + ββ values (0.51–0.67) were less than the equilibrium values, suggesting immature-early mature organic mater. As will be discussed below, hydrocarbon and biomarker compound distributions represented by low Pr/Ph values (0.5-1.0), and high C₃₅S/C₃₄S values (1.05–1.60) are indicative of suboxic-anoxic depositional conditions indicative of a stagnant water column with limited water circulation.</p>