New Plays and Remaining Potential in the Campos Basin Uncovered by a Newly Reprocessed Regional 3-D Seismic Dataset

Abstract

The Campos Basin is located on the South Atlantic continental margin of south-eastern Brazil and was formed during Early Cretaceous rifting and subsequent breakup of the Gondwana super-continent leading to the creation of the South Atlantic Oceanic Basin. The Campos is a prolific oil-prone basin with major discoveries in pre-salt Early Cretaceous carbonates and fractured basalts, post-salt Albian shallow-marine carbonates and Cenomanian to Miocene deep-water turbidite reservoirs. Since hydrocarbon exploration in the Campos began in the 1970’s 19.4 BBoe of recoverable reserves have been discovered in both pre and post-salt reservoirs. The primary source rocks for the Campos Basin are the Early Cretaceous pre-salt lacustrine rocks of the Lagoa Feia formation. Potential secondary source rocks are in the post-salt Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary section. Through integrated interpretation of newly reprocessed 3D and regional 2D seismic datasets we demonstrate the future potential of previously unexplored parts of the basin. ION’s 31700km2 Picanha 3D Seismic survey and 2D BrasilSPAN regional dataset has been used to identify new prospectivity in the Campos Basin. A complete stratigraphic interpretation of the 3D seismic dataset has been made tied to the well data. Interpretation of the pre-salt section has identified the location of potential source kitchens, structural highs with the greatest potential for the presence of pre-salt carbonate reservoirs and helped to resolve the structure of the Early Cretaceous pre-salt rift. Interpretation and seismic attribute analysis of the post-salt section has been undertaken to identify and map the location of sand fairways across the 3D volume. Results from this interpretation may be used as a basis for play fairway mapping, basin modelling and prospect generation in previously unexplored acreage in the Campos Basin to be made available during up-coming planned license rounds.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90332 © 2018 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Cape Town, South Africa, November 4-11, 2018