The Petroleum Habitat in the Post-Rift Sequences in the Brazilian Sedimentary Basins

Abstract

The post-rift sedimentary strata of the Brazilian coastal basins are made of two main sequences: the evaporite and carbonatic Albian-Aptian sequence, and the open-marine Late Albian to Recent sequence, both related to the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean. More than 40 billion barrels of oil-equivalent in place has been found in these sequences, mostly in siliciclastic reservoirs above and below the Aptian salt beds. The productive basins are Campos, Espirito Santo, Sergipe-Alagoas, Potiguar, Ceara, and Santos, but the first one is responsible for more than 60% of the original oil in place discovered in these basins. The hydrocarbon origin, migration, and accumulation models in these sequences are discussed and exemplified by some giant oil fields of Campos and Sergipe-Alagoas basins, where oil is trapped in Aptian conglomerates, Albian carbonates, and Upper Cretaceous to Tertiary turbidite sandstones. The cumulative production in these sequences reaches 958.6 million barrels and the proved exploitable reserve amounts reach 2.7 billion barrels of oil-equivalent. Petrobras' exploratory forecast indicates that the post-rift sequences are the most prolific ones in the Brazilian marginal basins. The oil-equivalent that is expected to be discovered, particularly in deep water areas, where giant oil fields (as the Marlim field) have beenmore » found, exceeds the amount that has been discovered until now.« less