Marcio Rocha Mello¹, Juliano Macedo², Rick Requejo³, Craig Schiefelbein⁴

(1) Analytical Solutions Ltda/Petroleum & Environmental Geo-Services Ltda, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
(2) Geochemical Solutions International, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
(3) Geochemical Solutions International, Inc, Woodlands, TX
(4) Geochemical Solutions International, Inc, Houston, TX

ABSTRACT: The Great Campos: a Frontier for New Giant Hydrocarbon Accumulations in the Brazilian Sedimentary Basins

In most areas of the Great Campos province, composed of the Santos, Campos and Espírito Santo basins, exploration is far from being complete since ultra deep-water leads has not being targeted. Although 98% of all the known reserves occur in the Campos basin, geochemical data suggest that similar organic-rich facies and oil types are found across the whole province, allowing the application of a unified petroleum system concept. Such similarities, when interpreted in a tectonic-stratigraphic context, allows the recognition and characterization of unexplored petroleum systems in the area.

This study, based in an integrated multidisciplinary approach using technologies ranging from 2D-seismic to molecular geochemistry, suggests the Santos and Espírito Santo basins, after the Campos, as the most promising oil-prone areas in the Brazilian continental margin. Throughout the tectonic-stratigraphic framework, regional facies variations of Barremian, Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary are consistent with a lacustrine, marine carbonate/ siliciclastic and marine deltaic model for source rock deposition in the province. The origin of the hydrocarbons is related to Barremian anoxic lakes ranging from freshwater to saline, Upper Cretaceous anoxic global events (Albian/ Cenomanian to Turonian), and a Tertiary marine deltaic complex that occurred in the Espírito Santo Basin.

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