--> Abstract: Petroleum Systems And Oil And Gas Assessment In The Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela, by C. J. Schenk; #90923 (1999)

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SCHENK, CHRISTOPHER J., U.S. Geological Survey, MS 939, Box 25046, Denver Colorado, USA 80225

Abstract: Petroleum Systems And Oil And Gas Assessment In The Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela

The USGS World Energy Project is currently assessing the undiscovered oil and gas potential of petroleum systems in priority basins throughout the world. This study focused on the assessment of the Maracaibo Basin,Venezuela. Many studies of the Maracaibo Basin have demonstrated that the Cretaceous La Luna Formation is the source rock for the most prolific petroleum system in the basin. Thermal maturation indicators demonstrate that the La Luna Formation passed into the oil generation window across much of the basin and into the gas generation window across a wide area of the southern part of the basin.

The La Luna Petroleum System has been divided into four units for this assessment. The Tertiary Misoa-Lagunillas Oil and Gas Assessment Unit contains the major sandstone reservoirs in the basin. The Cretaceous Oil and Gas Assessment Unit includes sandstones and fractured carbonates that have been a secondary reservoir to date in the basin, but significant potential may yet exist. The Tertiary Misoa Gas Assessment Unit was defined to assess potentially significant gas resources in the southern part of the basin where the La Luna is largely within the gas generation window. The Orocue Assessment Unit was defined to assess the mixed oils and gasĀ  found in Paleocene rocks in the southwestern part of the basin.The Maracaibo Basin is in a mature stage of exploration for undiscovered oil in the northern part of the basin, but gas is at a more frontier stage in the southern part of the basin.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90923@1999 International Conference and Exhibition, Birmingham, England