Print this pageA Historical Look at World-wide Turbidite Production: Future Opportunities in Stratigraphic Traps
PETTINGILL, HENRY S.
A world-wide analysis of turbidite fields yields insights for future exploration. Plots of cumulative turbidite discovery volumes versus time do not always follow the pattern typical of most plays, where larger fields are discovered early. This is because, while structural traps usually establish first production in turbidite plays, the steep climb in cumulative volumes usually results from stratigraphic traps, often discovered many years later. This observation is independent of basin setting, as shown by several examples.
In the San Joaquin and Los Angeles basins, significant volumes were discovered early in stratigraphic traps: the Midway Sunset field (2.75 billion bbl, San Joaquin) and the Huntington Beach field (1.25 billion bbl, Los Angeles). In contrast, the Campos and Gulf of Mexico basins established turbidite production predominantly from small structural traps, in both cases eclipsed many years later by giant stratigraphic discoveries such as Mars (>700 million bbl) and Marlim/Albacora (combined 7 billion bbl). In the North Sea, after the structural Forties discovery, cumulative turbidite volumes later climbed largely through addition of stratigraphic traps from several distinct plays.
This analysis supports exploration emphasis on stratigraphic traps in turbidites, and demonstrates that, if a basin is judged solely on structural prospects, then its volume potential will be grossly underestimated. These lessons should be applied to exploration of producing provinces which lack significant turbidite production (e.g., West Africa, Northwest Borneo, Offshore New Zealand). Finally, basins where turbidite production is predominantly from structural traps may have a bright exploration future.