--> ABSTRACT: El Furrial Oil Field, Northeastern Venezuela: First Giant in Foreland Fold and Thrust Belts of Western Hemisphere, by Jorge O. Carnevali; #91030 (2010)

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El Furrial Oil Field, Northeastern Venezuela: First Giant in Foreland Fold and Thrust Belts of Western Hemisphere

Jorge O. Carnevali

The El Furrial giant oil field lies on the northern flank of the prolific Eastern Venezuela basin. Major tectonic elements of the region consist of a fold and thrust belt and a deep foreland basin, whose deformation is a product of right-oblique arc-continent collision. This mountain-front oil province displays parallel bands of thrusts and associated folds that extend over 150 mi and have relay trend patterns.

The El Furrial structure is a long, doubly plunging anticline, flanked by imbricated, blind thrusts. Seismic data indicate vertical closure of about 3,000 ft over an area of 17,300 ac. The prospective section, of middle Tertiary to Late Cretaceous age, is mainly clastic, with an oil column of 1,800 ft. The interval of greater hydrocarbon potential is equated with shallow marine platform sandstones. Production tests reach sustained daily flow rates exceeding 9,500 bbl of 28°API oil and 9,100 mcf of gas. Analysis of the oil suggests a marine Cretaceous source. Although in an early stage of development, the field is estimated to contain approximately 2 billion bbl of recoverable oil reserves. This places El Furrial in the forefront of the giant oil fields in the foreland fold and th ust belt provinces of the Western Hemisphere, second only to the supergiant accumulations of the Zagros zone in the Persian Gulf.

The Eastern Venezuela basin probably contains on the order of 2 trillion bbl of oil in place, making it the largest oil-bearing basin in the world. An ultimate recovery of 500 billion bbl is estimated. Therefore, the basin offers significant geologic scope for exploration for other giant fields.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91030©1988 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, 20-23 March 1988.