Abstract
The Permian Basin in Western Texas and North Eastern New Mexico is an energy powerhouse. With three sub-basins i.e., Delaware, Central Basin Platform and Midland Basin producing hydrocarbons from both conventional and unconventional plays, the Texan Permian has been a focus of more interest from energy companies than the North-Western Shelf of the basin in New Mexico. However, the less explored North Western shelf of the basin in New Mexico furnishes equal opportunity for oil and gas exploration companies for further exploration research and subsequent discoveries. This research is an attempt to showcase the exploration significance and highlight the gaps for in exploration research in the New Mexico Permian Basin. We compare the oil plays in both Texas and New Mexico Permian based on reservoir geology and basin architecture. Overall, The Permian Basin is dominated by carbonate reservoirs. They account for 75% of all oil production followed by clastics, which contribute 14%; then come the mixed clastics and carbonates accounting for 8%; and lastly cherts make up around 3%. The leading growing production zone is the San Andres platform (Northwest shelf) carbonate play (4.0 billion bbl) followed by the Leonard restricted platform carbonate play (3.3 billion bbl). The Lower Permian Horseshoe and Pennsylvanian plays are next (2.7 billion bbl) and lastly by the San Andres platform carbonate play contributes to the overall production (2.2 billion bbl). With known potential of shelf plays we determine that North Western Shelf has similar stratigraphy and extensive hydrocarbon potential yet to be researched and explored.
Highlights
The ~115,000 sq mi Permian Basin in west Texas and southeast New Mexico is one of the major hydrocarbon basins of USA contributing to ~ 19% of the country’s total production
With an understanding of the structural / tectonic and stratigraphic controls over the Delaware basin, we categorize how the various reservoir facies are distributed in the Delaware basin to analyze why exploration research has lagged in the northern region i.e., New Mexico compared to the south Texan region where handsome investments from oil players have gone into basin research for oil exploration
From our detailed literature survey and analysis, we conclude that since the petroleum systems are common in the northern Delaware Basin (New Mexico) and southern Delaware Basin (Texas), because of better tax incentives on production in Texas, exploration companies have invested more in research in the Texan Delaware
Summary
The ~115,000 sq mi Permian Basin in west Texas and southeast New Mexico is one of the major hydrocarbon basins of USA contributing to ~ 19% of the country’s total production. The Permian Basin in New Mexico and West Texas appears to be actively originating Proterozoic (late) time as an abyssal mark at the edge (southwest) of the craton. By Middle Pennsylvanian time, the tectonic forces had intensified and deformed the middle area of Tobosa Basin by a folded and faulted uplifted tract This geomorphology divides the province into two sub-basins i.e., the Delaware sub-basin towards west and the Midland to the east (figure 1). As we progress to Middle - Late Permian time, tectonic activity was at a premium, only influencing the gradual deepening of the Delaware Basin with slight inclination towards east. This research intends to highlight the equal opportunity of oil and gas exploration in New Mexico’s Permian basin by comparing the two oil plays, their geology and architecture
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