ABSTRACT: Sequence Stratigraphic Play Analogs from the Gulf of Mexico Applied to the Niger Delta

BOWEN, BRUCE E., and H. E. DENMAN, Calibre Consulting Services, Inc., Houston, TX

The slope area of the Niger Delta has recently been made available for leasing and hydrocarbon exploration. Past exploration models for the Niger Delta have cast doubts on the presence of adequate source, reservoir, and/or trap in the strata of the slope basins of the Niger Delta as did early gulf models within that basin. A recent sequence stratigraphic study by TGSI/MABON using newly acquired seismic and well data reveals a thick prospective Neogene section with abundant traps that are of sufficient size to be economic.

Play models developed by sequence stratigraphic analysis in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico provide useful analogs for a similar setting in the Niger Delta. These models utilized for the Gulf of Mexico consist of an unstable prograding shelf margin overprinted by extensive salt diapirism and salt sill development occurring in stages. Salt movement within the slope generates both piercement and salt withdrawal features that in concert with eustatic fluctuations control deposition and facies distribution in intraslope basins. Trap, seal, and reservoir are developed in thin prograding wedge, thick slope fan, and intraslope basin floor fan systems tracts. Development of both structural and stratigraphic components of these plays are often similar for both Nigeria and the Gulf Slope. Example of recent discoveries in Green Canyon and Garden Banks areas are presented that have undrilled analogs in the Niger Delta slope. Use of these analogs may lead to improved understanding of the Niger slope system resulting in more successful and efficient assessments of existing hydrocarbon potential therein.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91012©1992 AAPG Annual Meeting, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 22-25, 1992 (2009)