ABSTRACT: Integrated Multidisciplinary Correlation of the Hibernia Oil Field, Offshore Eastern Canada

DAVIES, EDWARD H., Branta Biostratigraphy Ltd., Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and K. DONALD MCALPINE,* Geological Survey of Canada, Atlantic Geoscience Centre, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada

The Hibernia oil field is the first major oil discovery (1979) along the entire extent of the Atlantic coast of North America. Ten boreholes have been drilled to delineate the field, as well as the stratigraphic and structural framework. Thousands of kilometers of multichannel seismic data, including a 3-D survey, have been insufficient to provide the detailed stratigraphy required to develop the field to its full potential. This is due to the homogeneity of acoustic impedance of the dominantly clastic sequence compounded by structural complexities including contemporaneous faulting and draping. The Hibernia field is the first instance in the history of Canadian offshore oil exploration where closely spaced wells have allowed stratigraphic correlations by several geological discipline to be synthesized into an integrated model. Through an iterative process of examining, testing, and comparing between wells, biostratigraphic, lithostratigraphic, and seismic correlations have been verified and refined. The detailed zones, formations, and sequences formulated in this study are in turn the basis for refining the stratigraphy of the Jeanne d'Arc Basin.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91012©1992 AAPG Annual Meeting, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 22-25, 1992 (2009)