Abstract: Sequence Stratigraphic Setting of Turbidite-Related Petroleum Fields, Green Canyon and Ewing Bank Lease Areas, Northern Gulf of Mexico

Paul Weimer, Andrew J. Pulham

The Green Canyon (GC) and Ewing Bank (EW) OCS lease areas have 17 discoveries/fields, primarily from bathyal turbidite systems. Salt has played a significant role in the formation of the intraslope basins that the turbidite systems were deposited in, by influencing the flows of turbidites throughout the basin, in the subsequent trap formation, and, in some cases, as a seal. Nearly every field/discovery is associated with a seismic amplitude anomaly. Fields generally have multiple pay zones, with up to 22 in GC 184 (Jolliet). To date, eight of the fields are producing: EB 826, EB 873 (Lobster), GC 6 (Kodiak), GC 18, GC 53/54 (Marquette), GC 65/110 (Bullwinkle), GC 184 (Jolliet), and GC 205 (Vancouver). Other fields expected to be developed are GC 72/116 (Popeye), GC 254 (A legheny), GC 200/244 (Olivella), GC and GC 166 (Bison). Other discoveries that were produced and then abandoned include GC 19, and GC29.

Producing reservoir facies are highly variable across the area. Turbidite reservoir geometries in Pliocene sands (>1.6 Ma) consist of sheets and amalgamated sheet sands. Pleistocene sands are characterized primarily from channel-levee systems and related deposits. These sands tend to more compartmentalized with separate oil/water or gas/water contacts. Most reservoir sands occur within 100 ft overlying a sequence boundary, indicating the eustatic control on the timing of reservoir sand deposition.

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