Rainey, David I.1, Cindy A.
Yeilding1, Mark Golborne1, Larry E. Archibald2,
Chuck Guderjahn3, Gerchard
Exploration in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico
has been ongoing since the first successful offshore well in the 1940s. To
date, over 64 billion barrels oil equivalent have been discovered in the
The first “Round” of deepwater leasing
(1985-1994) yielded success in a number of seismic attribute-related upper
Miocene and younger discoveries. These discoveries were enabled through the
application of 3D seismic time processing at scale and 4th generation drilling
capability in 3000-5000' of water. The second “Round” of leasing and drilling
focused on older stratigraphy, and on testing robust
structural culminations, many of which were partially or completely subsalt. These discoveries resulted from the integration of
geological first principles with 3D seismic depth processing. They were enabled
by 5th generation drilling rigs with capability to drill in 5,000-10,000' of
water, as well as the ability to drill to over 30,000'.
The
AAPG Search and Discover Article #90063©2007 AAPG Annual Convention, Long Beach, California