Possible Future Petroleum Potential of Peninsular Florida and Adjacent Continental Shelves

Abstract

Peninsular Florida and the adjacent continental shelves comprise an area of about 150,000 sq mi (388,500 sq km) and have a volume of sedimentary rock above crystalline basement of about 315,000 cu mi (1,312,600 cu km). The sedimentary section includes strata of early Paleozoic, Triassic, Jurassic(?), Cretaceous, and Tertiary ages. Only four small fields have been discovered in Florida from the drilling of about 300 exploratory wells. The fields are located in the South Florida basin, and the productive formation is the Lower Cretaceous Sunniland Limestone. The speculative recoverable petroleum potential is estimated on the basis of known or inferred conditions during deposition. Lower Cretaceous strata have the greatest potential--estimated speculative reserves of 6.5 billion bbl of oil and 7 trillion cu ft of gas in sandstone and carbonate rocks on the south flank of the Peninsular arch and in limestone reefs of the northern part of the Gulf continental shelf. Upper Jurassic sandstones and carbonate rocks are believed to underlie much of the area west and south of the Peninsular arch, and they are estimated to contain 1 billion bbl of oil and 5 trillion cu ft of gas. Paleocene and lower Eocene carbonate rocks probably have a potential of 200 million bbl of oil and 0.5 trillion cu ft of gas. Paleozoic sandstones of northern Florida and he adjacent continental shelves should contain 100 million bbl of oil and 0.5 trillion cu ft of gas.