The Road to Shell's Appomattox Discovery
Abstract
Appomattox is a significant discovery for Shell in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Appomattox is a faulted 4-way closure in the Jurassic eolian Norphlet play in the Mississippi Canyon protraction area in water depths in excess of 7000 ft. The structure spreads over six outer continental shelf (OCS) blocks jointly held by Shell and Nexen. Appomattox is the result of a persistent exploration campaign that spanned over a decade and faced multiple challenges, including imaging the low-reflectivity base of Norphlet, predicting areas with high density of deformation bands, and understanding the presence of reservoir solid hydrocarbons. The field is currently being assessed for development. This presentation provides an overview of the road to the Appomattox discovery and highlights some of the distinctive geological aspects of the field.
AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90219 © 2015 GCAGS, Houston, Texas, September 20-22, 2015