Structural Styles and History of Exploration in the Wilcox Formation in the Deep Water Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

Abstract

The Wilcox Formation in the deep water Gulf of Mexico is one of the most successful and prolific plays in the recent history. It is a very prolific reservoir with over four billion barrels discovered and three fields in production and two more will come online in the near future. Over 50 wells have been drilled with an overall success rate of 50% for the play. There are two basic types of traps, easily distinguishable: anticlines and three-way closures. Anticlines can be classified as Perdido, Outboard and Inboard. Three-ways have more complexity as they can close against salt, minibasins and faults, or a combination of them. This additional complexity difficults a simple classification scheme for three-way closures.

A closer look at the two very distinct structural styles, reveals two clear tendencies. Anticlinal structures have a success rate of over 75%, whereas three way closures have a much lower success. This tendency is surprising since three-way closures are a reliable trap configuration for younger strata. The industry has recognized this lower success rate and has tried to mitigate it mainly through better seismic acquisition and processing. Unfortunately, besides the imaging problem there seems to be other fundamental problems with three-way closures at the Wilcox level.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90260 © 2016 AAPG/SEG International Conference & Exhibition, Cancun, Mexico, September 6-9, 2016