--> Abstract: The ZAIANGO Project, Petroleum Implications of Multiscale Investigation of Modern Deep Sea Zaire Fan, Lower Congo Basin, by Philippe De Clarens, Bruno Savoye, Nathalie Babonneau, and Martine Bez; #90039 (2005)

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The ZAIANGO Project, Petroleum Implications of Multiscale Investigation of Modern Deep Sea Zaire Fan, Lower Congo Basin

Philippe De Clarens1, Bruno Savoye2, Nathalie Babonneau2, and Martine Bez3
1 Total, Paris la Defense Cedex, France
2 IFREMER, 29280 Plouzané, France
3 TOTAL, Pau, France

When TOTAL drilled its very first offshore well in 1962, in Gabon, the group acquired its first experience on deepwater reservoirs without realising it. It led to the discovery of the Anguille field in cretaceous distal lobes. At that time, the notions of turbidites were not known and no geological analog was available. Ten years after, very different geological analogs were successively reviewed (from deltaic to deep water contourites…) to model the Frigg reservoir, in the Viking Graben (North Sea). This mainly happened because of the use of geological analogs at non relevant scales. In 1996, the Girassol well, in Angola, led to the discovery of a giant field in very poorly documented deep water meandering channel reservoirs. No geological analog of such depositional systems was relevant to the regional setting of the Lower Congo basin. At that time, academic research on modern deep sea fan was developing new high resolution tools for the acquisition of very detailed reservoirs and fluid escape images. The ZAIANGO project was decided as a collaboration between TOTAL and Ifremer to perform an integrated study of the modern Zaire fan, at a regional scale, in order to acquire an understanding of the sedimentary processes controlling the distribution and the characteristics of the reservoirs, from the river mouth to the distal lobes. The main objective of this poster is to share TOTAL views on the use of geological analogs and present some of the petroleum implications of the ZAIANGO project performed in collaboration with Ifremer.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90039©2005 AAPG Calgary, Alberta, June 16-19, 2005