3D revives an old play: An Aptian subsalt discovery, Etame Field, offshore Gabon, West Africa

Abstract

In July 1995, VAALCO Energy was awarded the Etame Marin permit which encompasses 3074 km2 in the northern portion of the Congo Basin offshore southern Gabon (Figure 1). The Congo Basin developed and evolved as a result of rifting and subsequent drifting of the African continent from South America. An upper Aptian salt series divides the underlying syn-rift sediments and structures of the basin from the overlying drift-sag sediments, which have been structured by post-Albian salt tectonics. The dominant salt features are subparallel “salt walls” that extend 10–50 km.