ABSTRACT: Brunei deepwater exploration; 3D seismic facies of low net-to-gross channel-levee systems on the Brunei slope

Tromp, Jan Pieter, Zulkifli B. Ahmad, and Yoshi Pang , Brunei Shell Petroleum Company, Seria, Brunei

The Miocene-Recent Brunei continental slope is punctuated by mobile clay ridges that run parallel to the present day shelf edge. A three dimensional seismic facies interpretation, calibrated with well data, shows that very large but low net-to-gross channel-levee systems are locally present on the outboard side of these clay ridges.

Recognition of the gull-wing geometries of the channel-levee systems on seismic strike sections is problematic due to the subtle relief of the compacted levees, the relatively wide and shallow channel valleys and the modification by erosive events. It appears that, with increasing burial depth and decreasing seismic resolution, these systems are more readily recognised by their convergent thinning geometry on dip sections.

The relationships between the channel-levee systems and other slope processes, like canyon formation and mass flow deposition, have been studied in a shallow 3D seismic analogue from the Brunei slope. This high resolution example also shows how the lateral and vertical development of canyon-confined channel-levee systems are controlled by the syn-depositional movement of the clay ridges.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90913©2000 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Bali, Indonesia