--> Abstract: Cuban Recently Opened Deepwater Sector of the Gulf of Mexico: Preliminary Petroleum Geology Approach, by Rafael Tenreyro-Pérez, Manuel Marrero, and Hernandez Guillermo; #90914(2000)

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Rafael Tenreyro-Pérez1, Manuel Marrero2, Hernandez Guillermo3
(1) Cubapetroleo. Ceinpet, Havana, Cuba
(2) Ministry of Basic Industry
(3) Commercial CUPET

Abstract: Cuban recently opened deepwater sector of the Gulf of Mexico: Preliminary petroleum geology approach

The Cuban Economic Zone in the Gulf of Mexico comprises an area of 112000 sq. Km with more than 59 blocks available for negotiations. The zone is probably the last undrilled alpinic foreland basin of the world. The studies done up to this moment in the area includes several thousand kilometers of seismic lines and some wells from the Deep Sea Drilling Program.

The sector includes from south to north:

  • A triangle transition zone of the Cuban folded and thrusted belt with several large foothill type drag anticlines.
  • The Cuban foreland basin, with a section of up to 6 km of Tertiary and probably Upper Cretaceous sediments.
  • The open sea basin, including deep-sea basin and drown carbonate platform which cover extensive syn-rift basins of more than 5 km thick.

During the Cuban orogeny the collision between the Cuban volcanic arc and the North-American passive continental margin produced intensive folding and thrusting in the sedimentary section. There are extremely rich levels of source rocks in Lower and Upper Jurassic as well as in Lower and Middle Cretaceous and Paleocene. The timing of the processes of maturation expulsion and migration for the most part of the source rocks levels is always after the main stage of orogenesis in Middle Eocene. The analysis of geological elements and processes of the petroleum system concludes that the zone has a great potential for the discovery of large oil field.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90914©2000 AAPG Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana