Petroleum Exploration Potential of Xisha Trough Basin in SCS

Abstract

Nowadays oil-gas exploration make a great contribution to the world oil-gas reserve increase. A series of deepwater passive continental margin basins are found in Northern Continental Slope of South China Sea. These basins consisted of thick Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary strata with the characteristics of the major world deepwater oil-gas basins. As one of Cenozoic sedimentary basins in deepwater area of Northern Slope of South China Sea, Xisha Trough Basin developed 1500-8000m thick sedimentary strata, which are north-south zoning characteristics of thicker in the center and thinner both in the north and south sides of basin. In its evolutionary history there are two stages: One is Paleocene-Oligocene Rift with Continental River-Lake Facies sedimentary and the other is Miocene-Quaternary Depression with shallow sea-hemiplegic sedimentary. It has good petroleum geological conditions that source rocks consist of lacustrine mudstones, paralic mudstone, and marine mudstone, Tertiary high porosity and permeability deepwater fan reservoirs are the main reservoir, and structural traps and lithologic traps developed. In a word, it has good oil-gas exploration potential.