--> ABSTRACT: Mesozoic Plays of the Cordoba Platform, Veracruz Basin, by Martin Martinez, Enrique Serrano, Cruz Bartolo, Juan Toriz, Miguel Espinoza, and Ricardo Vazquez; #90906(2001)

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Martin Martinez1, Enrique Serrano1, Cruz Bartolo1, Juan Toriz1, Miguel Espinoza1, Ricardo Vazquez1

(1) Pemex Exploracion y Produccion, Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico

ABSTRACT: Mesozoic Plays of the Cordoba Platform, Veracruz Basin

The Mesozoic Cordoba platform is located on the middle-eastern portion of Mexico, between the Mexican Neovolcanic Axis to the north, and metamorphic complexes to the southeast. The eastern platform limit is unknown due to burial beneath Tertiary sediments. The reservoirs are fractured-type and the principal fields are located on the eastern buried side of the Cordoba platform, with current gas production of 125 mmpcd.

Three super-cycles have been identified for Cretaceous sediments, the first being associated with the Albanian-Cenomanian Orizaba formation, a lagoon-reef sequence tagged as the principal reservoir rock. Its upper limit is the Turonian (Maltrata formation) maximum flooding plain, which is the cap rock. The second super cycle is a ramp platform (Guzmantla formation), which has its upper limit at the Upper Santonian-Lower Campanian unconformity, represented by karstic limestones also considered as reservoir rocks. The third super cycle starts with the San Felipe "Brechas", represented by slope floor fan sediments, which are reservoir rocks when they are structured and fractured. This unit is capped by a sequence of calcareous clays denominated San Felipe, Méndez and Velasco formations. The limit of the last super-cycle is a regional pre-Upper Eocene unconformity.

The Laramidic deformation is responsible for the development of NW-SE folds, the trapping mechanism, and fracturing of the cretaceous sequence. The fractures are initially cemented by calcite, afterwards opened by dissolution during an initial stage of hydrocarbon migration during the Miocene. The gas and oil came out from the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous source rocks.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90906©2001 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado