New Viewpoint on the Geology and Hydrocarbon Prospectivity of the Seychelles Plateau

Abstract

We have reprocessed, re-imaged, and interpreted 10000+ km of legacy 2D seismic data in the Seychelles, particularly in the western part of the Plateau. Seychelles data have been difficult to image, particularly for the Mesozoic section: volcanics are a major attenuator of low frequency signal, and a hard water bottom contributes to signal problems. Enhanced low frequency techniques were applied to improve the signal fidelity in the 4 to 20 Hz range, and to remove spectral notches of shallow geologic origin. These efforts have allowed a reasonable view of the structure of the Plateau to a depth equivalent to about 3.5 sec TWT, and permit a comparison of areas atop the Plateau to the south coast where the three 1980's Amoco wells were drilled. It is clear that the main Plateau area of the Seychelles (excluding the outlying territories) is comprised of several separate basins, each with similar Karoo, Cretaceous, and Cenozoic sections that relate to the East African and West Indian conjugate margins, but the basins each have nuanced tectono-stratigraphic histories. The previously recognized Correira Basin in the SE and the East and West South Coast Basins face the African conjugate margin; other unimaged ones complete the periphery of the Plateau. The interior of the Plateau is dominated by the Silhouette Basin to the west of the main islands and the Mahé Basin to the east. The co astal basins have harsh tectono-thermal histories comparable to other continental margins around the world; they are typically characterized by stretching, subsidence and breakaway from their respective conjugate margins. In contrast the interior basins are comparable to ‘failed’ rift systems such as the North Sea or the Gulf of Suez. The South Coastal Basins, for example, tend to be more extended which complicated interpretation of the Amoco wells, but they have significant upside, as exemplified by the Beau Vallon structure. The interior basins, on the other hand, have typically simpler structure: the Silhouette Basin contains a system of NW-trending linked normal faults that could easily harbor North Sea-sized hydrocarbon traps with a variety of rift-related reservoir possibilities. Bright, reflective, hard volcanic horizons are less common than usually presumed, but most of the basins may contain considerable pyroclastic material in parts of the section. All of the basins appear to be predominantly oil prone, with considerable upside prospectivity.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90267 ©2016 AAPG/SPE Africa Energy and Technology Conference, Nairobi City, Kenya, December 5-7, 2016