A Precursor to the Mexican Offshore: A Post Well Analysis Multidisciplinary Approach for a More Confident Understanding of a Complex Petroleum System

Abstract

Abstract

A multidisciplinary study of wells and seismic from the US offshore Gulf of Mexico has been carried out in order to assess, for each formation in each well, the four key risk factors for exploration: reservoir, trap, seal, and charge, forming the basis of the Post Well Analysis (PWA).

This multidisciplinary approach, that includes the integration of well data (including geological reports, well logs, mud logs, biostratigraphic reports, etc.), 2D and 3D seismic, petrophysical data (including Computer based Petrophysical Interpretations (CPIs)), thermal modelling, and public data provides a unique systematic assessment of the petroleum systems of US offshore Gulf of Mexico (US GOM).

By understanding the complex petroleum systems in the US GOM we can compare these analogues with the Mexican Gulf of Mexico (MGOM) to increase our understanding of a frontier region and its untapped potential. In turn, this may help to highlight potential key risk factors, identify areas of further investigation or requiring additional geoscience data, and subsequently reduce exploration risk.

Using PWA examples of both discoveries and dry holes, from an area such as the Alaminos Canyon protraction area in the US, increases the understanding of salt body formation, development, and movement within analogous regions in the MGOM. Accurate mapping of salt bodies on seismic in the US GOM and utilising well controls to determine salt thicknesses and their interaction with the surrounding stratigraphy is shown to increase the confidence in the style of salt tectonics that may be found in the MGOM.

Though there are similarities in the structural and stratigraphic regimes across the US and Mexican Gulf regions, one key element that must be considered when assessing petroleum systems in the MGOM is the differing amounts of sediment input and their respective source regions. Understanding these sediment influxes into the basin is key to understanding the development of potential reservoirs in the MGOM and will further contribute to the knowledge of salt behaviour in the area.

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