Proven Hydrocarbon Province Research Articles

Integrated 3D forward stratigraphic and petroleum system modeling of the Levant Basin, Eastern Mediterranean

AbstractThe Eastern Mediterranean Levant Basin is a proven hydrocarbon province with recent major gas discoveries. To date, no exploration wells targeted its northern part, in particular the Lebanese offshore. The present study assesses the tectono‐stratigraphic evolution and related petroleum systems of the northern Levant Basin via an integrated approach that combines stratigraphic forward modeling and petroleum systems/basin modeling based on the previous published work. Stratigraphic modeling results provide a best‐fit realisation of the basin‐scale sedimentary filling, from the post‐rift Upper Jurassic until the Pliocene. Simulation results suggest dominant eastern marginal and Arabian Plate sources for Cenozoic siliciclastic sediments and a significant contribution from the southern Nilotic source mostly from Lower Oligocene to Lower Miocene. Basin modeling results suggest the presence of a working thermogenic petroleum system with mature source rocks localised in the deeper offshore. The generated hydrocarbons migrated through the deep basin within Jurassic and Cretaceous permeable layers towards the Latakia Ridge in the north and the Levant margin and offshore topographic highs. Furthermore, the basin model indicates a possibly significant influence of salt deposition during Messinian salinity crisis on formation fluids. Ultimately, the proposed integrated workflow provides a powerful tool for the assessment of petroleum systems in underexplored areas.

Shallow water Gabon 3D: focused processing images pre- and post-salt prospectivity

In 2017 Spectrum conducted a major 3D seismic acquisition programme of approximately 11,500 km2 in shallow water offshore South Gabon (Figure 1). The project was carried out in close collaboration with the Gabonese Authorities (Direction Generale des Hydrocarbures; DGH) and was driven by renewed interest in a proven hydrocarbon province. Continuing exploration since the 1960s has proven all the key elements: source rock presence and maturity, reservoir presence and effectiveness, seal and oil charge into structural and combined structural-stratigraphic traps. Indeed, many oil fields, such as the Olowi Field, have been discovered and are producing in the onshore and nearshore.

Integrated petroleum systems analysis to understand the source of fluids in the Browse Basin, Australia

The Browse Basin is located offshore on Australia’s North West Shelf and is a proven hydrocarbon province, hosting gas with associated condensate in an area where oil reserves are typically small. The assessment of a basin’s oil potential traditionally focuses on the presence or absence of oil-prone source rocks. However, light oil can be found in basins where source rocks are gas-prone and the primary hydrocarbon type is gas-condensate. Oil rims form whenever such fluids migrate into reservoirs at pressures less than their dew point (saturation) pressure. By combining petroleum systems analysis with geochemical studies of source rocks and fluids (gases and liquids), four Mesozoic petroleum systems have been identified in the basin. This study applies petroleum systems analysis to understand the source of fluids and their phase behaviour in the Browse Basin. Source rock richness, thickness and quality are mapped from well control. Petroleum systems modelling that integrates source rock property maps, basin-specific kinetics, 1D burial history models and regional 3D surfaces, provides new insights into source rock maturity, generation and expelled fluid composition. The principal source rocks are Early–Middle Jurassic fluvio-deltaic coaly shales and shales within the J10–J20 supersequences (Plover Formation), Middle–Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous sub-oxic marine shales within the J30–K10 supersequences (Vulcan and Montara formations) and K20–K30 supersequences (Echuca Shoals Formation). These source rocks contain significant contributions of terrestrial organic matter, and within the Caswell Sub-basin, have reached sufficient maturities to have transformed most of the kerogen into hydrocarbons, with the majority of expulsion occurring from the Late Cretaceous until present.

Multi-scale characterisation of the Paaratte Formation, Otway Basin, for CO2 injection and storage

A resurgent interest in the gas potential of the Gulf of Papua has been enhanced by the recent announcement of developing new LNG facilities in Port Moresby. Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) has recently acquired a 6,000-km2Multi-Client 3D (MC3D) survey in the gulf. Although most of the discoveries in PNG are from the highland areas, the gulf is a proven hydrocarbon province with gas/condensate accumulations previously discovered in several reef build-ups. It is thought that sediments from the Papuan Fold Belt produced clastic dominated deltas in the Gulf area. Although this play is untested offshore, there is evidence these sandy facies exist and could contain hydrocarbons. On the first phase of acquisition/interpretation, an efficient screening workflow called Prospect Scanner, developed to highlight areas of AVO effects in large 3D seismic datasets, was tested. It uses pre-stack seismic time migrated (PSTM) gathers to extract AVO attributes that are then inverted to derive relative acoustic and shear impedance volumes. Using idealised cross-plots, the relationship between Vp/Vs ratio and the Ip values gives a good indication of the fluid and lithology of the tested interval. The results are loaded into a conventional interpretation package for interpretation/visualisation. Prospect Scanner has highlighted previously undrilled turbidite and basin floor fan prospects in the region. The Vp/Vs versus Ip cross-plot shows clustering ofthe sand anomaly and good separation from the majority of the plot. These points correspond to the idealised location for a gas sand. Past concerns about lateral prediction of reservoir presence and quality associated with the basin floor fans can be addressed through this workflow.

Amplitude-versus-offset (AVO) screening in frontier basins: an example from the Gulf of Papua, Papua New Guinea

A resurgent interest in the gas potential of the Gulf of Papua has been enhanced by the recent announcement of developing new LNG facilities in Port Moresby. Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) has recently acquired a 6,000-km2 Multi-Client 3D (MC3D) survey in the gulf. Although most of the discoveries in PNG are from the highland areas, the gulf is a proven hydrocarbon province with gas/condensate accumulations previously discovered in several reef build-ups. It is thought that sediments from the Papuan Fold Belt produced clastic dominated deltas in the Gulf area. Although this play is untested offshore, there is evidence these sandy facies exist and could contain hydrocarbons. On the first phase of acquisition/interpretation, an efficient screening workflow called Prospect Scanner, developed to highlight areas of AVO effects in large 3D seismic datasets, was tested. It uses pre-stack seismic time migrated (PSTM) gathers to extract AVO attributes that are then inverted to derive relative acoustic and shear impedance volumes. Using idealised cross-plots, the relationship between Vp/Vs ratio and the Ip values gives a good indication of the fluid and lithology of the tested interval. The results are loaded into a conventional interpretation package for interpretation/visualisation. Prospect Scanner has highlighted previously undrilled turbidite and basin floor fan prospects in the region. The Vp/Vs versus Ip cross-plot shows clustering of the sand anomaly and good separation from the majority of the plot. These points correspond to the idealised location for a gas sand. Past concerns about lateral prediction of reservoir presence and quality associated with the basin floor fans can be addressed through this workflow.

The Aquitaine Basin

The Aquitaine Basin is located in the southwest of France, between the Gironde Arch in the north and the Pyrenean Mountain Chain in the south. It is a triangular-shaped domain, extending over 35 000 km 2 . From north to south, six main geological provinces can be identified: (1) the Medoc Platform located south of the Gironde Arch; (2) the Parentis sub-basin; (3) the Landes Saddle; (4) the North Aquitaine Platform; (5) the foreland of the Pyrenees (also known as the Adour, Arzacq and Comminges sub-basins); and (6) the Pyrenean fold-and-thrust belt. Only the Parentis sub-basin, the foreland of the Pyrenean Chain and a minor part of the fold-and-thrust belt itself are proven hydrocarbon provinces. The Aquitaine Basin, in turn, is subdivided into four sub-basins – the Parentis, Adour–Arzacq, Tarbes and Comminges areas. The lozenge shape of these depocentres is related to the Hercynian tectonic framework of the Palaeozoic basement, reactivated during Early Cretaceous rifting. This rift phase aborted at the end of the Albian (prior to the development of an oceanic crust) in response to the beginning of the subduction of the Iberian plate under the European plate. During the Upper Cretaceous, continued subduction led to the creation of northwards-migrating flexural basins. In the Eocene, a paroxysmal phase of compression was responsible for the uplift of the Pyrenean Mountain Chain and for the thin-skinned deformation of the foreland basin. The resulting structuration is limited to the south by the internal core of the chain and to the north by the leading edge of the fold-and-thrust belt, where the Lacq and Meillon gas fields are located. Four main petroleum provinces have been exploited since the Second World War: (1) the oil-prone Parentis sub-basin and (2) salt ridges surrounding the Arzacq and Tarbes sub-basins; and (3) the gas-prone southern Arzacq sub-basin (including the external Pyrenean fold-and-thrust belt and the proximal foreland sub-basin) and (4) Comminges sub-basin. Two major distinct vertically drained petroleum systems (PS) can be identified: the Upper Kimmeridgian–Barremian is the main PS, based on Type II shaly-carbonate source rocks; and the Lias PS based on Type II–III source rocks. The latter is restricted to the Comminges and Tarbes sub-basins. Reservoirs consist of fractured and diagenetically modified carbonates, and clastics. Shaly-marly deposits of regional extent associated with transgressive systems provide the main seals. Formation of petroleum traps results from a complex polyphase geodynamic evolution. They are developed mainly along Palaeozoic inherited palaeostructures. Oil and gas migration took place from Albian times up to the present, depending on the respective structural position and histories of the traps. These petroleum provinces of the Aquitaine Basin have been exploited since 1939 and a total of 11.5×10 12 SCF of gas and 470×10 6 BBL oil recoverable reserves have been proven to date (the total amount is in the order of 2.5×10 9 BOE).

Frontier Exploration in the South Atlantic: Structural Prospectivity in the North Falkland Basin

Seismic stratigraphic analysis of the continental shelf north of the Falkland Islands confirms that it is dissected by a significant extensional fault system that broadly defines the North Falkland Basin. The basin comprises a series of extensional subbasins that developed during two distinct rift episodes. Analysis of structural styles shows that while extension occurred predominantly on a series of planar normal faults with changes in rift polarity in northern areas, the southern portion of the basin has listric faults that sole out along preexisting thrusts. After rifting, the basin largely underwent postrift thermal subsidence with the passive infill of remnant topography; however, evidence exists for at least two uplift events affecting the postrift sediments. The earlier period of uplift tilted the basin to the south, resulting in the formation of a southerly prograding forced regressive wedge; the later episode of uplift tilted the basin northward, resulting in truncation of earlier strata and minor compressional reactivation and inversion in southernmost parts of the basin. The later tilting allows for the possibility that the original rift system once extended across the Falkland Islands. Although the lack of well control does not permit a comprehensive assessment of hydrocarbon plays, the seismic data do at least demonstrate the trapping potential of the basin. Interpreted structural and depositional styles found within the prerift, synrift, and postrift sequences are similar to those found in proven hydrocarbon provinces such as the North Sea and the Gulf of Suez. The success or failure of the frontier hydrocarbon province thus is likely to depend upon factors other than structural ones.

Exploration within the Sub-Andean Thrust Belt of Southern Bolivia

The Sub-Andean thrust belt of Southern Bolivia is a proven hydrocarbon province. Chevron began a regional study of the area in 1988 and chose the Caipipendi block due to its high potential for significant new oil reserves. A regional work program designed to acquire and integrate seismic data, geologic field data, geochemistry, and gravity data was used to generated structural models, evaluate regional risk components and to detail leads. The structural style within the Caipipendi block is interpreted as being an in sequence, thin skinned thrust belt with eastward verging folds and thrust faults. Tight surface anticlines associated with a Middle Devonian detachment have been later folded by deeper fault bend folds associated with the Silurian detachment. While the tight surface folds are presently producing oil, the deeper broader structures associated with the Silurian detachement have not been tested. Seismic data, utilized for the first time in this part of the Sub-Andean thrust belt, integrated with balanced structural cross sections, is the key to evaluating this new play. Geochemical analysis, including oil biomarker work, indicate that the oils are sourced from the Silurian-Devonian sequence. A generative oil system model formulated by integrating the geochemical analysis with maturation modeling indicates thatmore » the Devonian Los Monos formation is the primary oil source. Anticipated reservoirs for the new play are Carboniferous and Devonian sandstones which are also productive elsewhere in the basin.« less

Geology and hydrocarbon provinces of the North Sea

The technically recoverable hydrocarbon reserves of the North Sea are currently estimated at 23 × 109 bbls of oil, condensate and NGL and 90 × 1012 scf of gas. The North Sea underwent a complex geological evolution. The oil and gas occurrences in the central and northern North Sea are tied to Mesozoic and Tertiary sediments; the gas fields of the southern North Sea are mainly contained in Permian series. The proven hydrocarbon provinces cover at best one third of the total area of the North Sea. It is estimated that in the early 1980's the oil production from the North Sea will meet 22% of the oil demand of Western Europe.