--> Abstract: New Exploration Framework and Plays in Offshore Peru, by Robert G. Hickman, Peter A. Emmet, Glenn W. Granata, Angel F. Callejon, Maurice Slot, Rolando Bolanos Zapana, and Tarek Y. Ghazi; #90039 (2005)

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New Exploration Framework and Plays in Offshore Peru

Robert G. Hickman1, Peter A. Emmet2, Glenn W. Granata3, Angel F. Callejón4, Maurice Slot5, Rolando Bolaños Zapana6, and Tarek Y. Ghazi7
1 Structural Solutions, Sugar Land, TX
2 Brazos Valley G&G Services, Cypress,
3 Granata Geological Consulting, Houston,
4 Platte River Associates, Inc, Houston, TX
5 In-Depth Solutions, Nichols Hills,
6 Perupetro SA, Lima, Peru
7 Gaffney, Cline & Associates, Inc, Houston, TX

The northern continental margin of Peru has produced more than one billion barrels of oil. This productivity is related to the anomalous nature of the continental shelf and upper slope, which are underlain by Precambrian and Paleozoic continental crystalline rocks rather than accreted oceanic rocks. Paleozoic and Cretaceous strata overlie the crystalline rocks. During the Cenozoic, several extensional basins formed and subsequently were inverted, controlled by the reactivation basement faults.

Production has been largely from the Talara basin. The Tumbes-Progreso basin has produced oil and gas from the Neogene section, however, a thicker Eocene section remains essentially untested.

The Trujillo, Salaverry and Pisco basins to the south are only slightly explored. Oil seeps and maturation modeling suggests mature Cretaceous source rocks in all three basins and early mature Eocene source rocks in Trujillo basin. Analysis indicates that two of the four Trujillo wildcats wells were drilled off-structure with respect to deep targets, while the other two tested the Trujillo-Salaverry basement arch. Reconstructions indicate traps along this arch formed in the late Miocene. Although this timing diminishes prospectivity of the arch, it allows charging of traps in the Salaverry basin with hydrocarbons migrating from the Trujillo basin during the late Eocene to early Miocene. Targets in the Trujillo basin include turbidite sands. This study has resulted in a better understanding of the paleogeography that controlled the distribution of these sands. Cretaceous sandstones in the Trujillo and Salaverry basins and Eocene carbonates in the Salaverry and Pisco basins may also be prospective.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90039©2005 AAPG Calgary, Alberta, June 16-19, 2005