Abstract: The La Pica Formation--New Ideas and More Questions

Luz M. Linares

The La Pica Formation has been producing from the beginning of the century in the fields of the Santa Barbara-Jusepin trend and Pedernales field. These fields are located in the Eastern Venezuela Basin, one of the most prolific oil basins in Venezuela. The accumulative oil produced until now in Lagoven, S.A., area is 225,556 million barrels. The type of crude produced is ranging from light to heavy. The interval producing in the fields mentioned before measures in between 1000 and 3000 m. The La Pica formation is present in all of the Eastern Venezuela Basin and continues to be an important target for oil producing.

In recent years, this formation has been drilled by several wells located in different areas apart from the traditional fields. These wells had provided new information which in some cases clarified some of the questions about the environment of deposition, geochemical composition age, reservoir quality and trap style. However, these wells also have raised new questions and La Pica Formation still has a number of problems.

The La Pica Formation was deposited during the Late Miocene-Pliocene time, in continental to outer neritic environments. The sediments range from silts to fine sands with some shaly intervals. The first accumulations were discovered in pinchouts against highs. However, in recent seismic lines, La Pica Formation shows possible different style of traps for hydrocarbon that could contain commercial accumulations.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90951©1996 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Caracas, Venezuela