Styles and Multistage Salt Intrusions in the Southern Gulf of Mexico: Implications on the Timing and Reservoir Distributions

Sanchez, Raymundo¹, Felipe Audemard², Ruben Sanchez³, Carlos Williams³ (1) Pemex Exploracion y Produccion, Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico (2) Schlumberger, Villahermosa, tabasco, Mexico (3) Pemex Exploracion y Produccion,

A series of examples from 3D seismic illustrate that most of the hydrocarbon accumulations from south Gulf of Mexico were largely controlled by salt tectonics This mechanism triggered many sedimentary processes and associated geometries. Salt pillows gave rise to depositional processes such as A) The Kimmeridgian oolitic deposition. B) Progressive salt dilation induced the development of a belt of isolated carbonate platforms disseminated as archipelagoes. C) Local salt remobilization facilitated karstification and enhanced reservoir quality conditions and D) Selective salt dissolution / evacuation underneath these platforms forced the collapse of structures. The southwestern portion of the basin is ideal to document the effect and timing of major stages of salt deformation coupled with the processes previously described. I) Kimmeridgian oolite horizons are now viewed as prime targets which developed at the crest of synsedimentary salt pillows. II) The carbonate platforms peaked during the Late Cretaceous and were drowned during the Eocene. These structures when subsequently dolomitized are major potential producers. Locally, these platform edifices are well preserved and are actively evaluated. III) Karstificatin gave rise to subsequent gravity induced debris flows, representing additional targets. IV–V)) Younger regional pulses of salt remobilization of Late Oligocene and Upper Miocene/Pliocene are genetically related to superposed extensional and contractional salt structures which host many known reservoirs. Most of these are extensively fractured, VI) This later phase could also activate hydrocarbon remigration into the siliciclastic reservoirs located up dip.