Basin Modeling of the Upper Jurassic Petroleum Systems (Tithonian and Oxfordian) in the Akalan-Chilam Area of the Campeche Sound in the Southern Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

Integration of geological, geochemical, and geophysical data and information has commenced in the southern part of the Campeche Sound in the Gulf of Mexico. In the Akalan-Chilam study area, two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) seismic data were integrated with information from exploration wells to reveal the region's oil potential and estimate its economic value. The initial study approach was to integrate all of the available data to construct numerical models of the petroleum systems to ascertain their thermal evolution and the region's petroleum potential, with an emphasis on hydrocarbon volumes available to charge the reservoirs. This required the identification and generation potential of source rocks, an appraisal of expulsion efficiency, definition of migration pathways, and estimation of trapped volumes in plays and prospects of the study area. The ultimate goal was to define exploration prospects in the study area. Three-dimensional numerical models were constructed by integrating regional 2-D and 3-D seismic data in the study area. Numerical modeling and simulations of thermal maturity and fluids were accomplished with the Temispack program for 2-D and 3-D petroleum systems.