Structural Analysis of Upper Cretaceous Carbonate Reservoirs Using Curvature Attributes, Campeche Sound, Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

Campeche Sound, located offshore of eastern Mexico on the continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico, is the most important petroliferous region in Mexico. Including the giant Upper Cretaceous Carbonate reservoir Cantarell and Ku-Zaap-Maloob oil fields, Campeche Sound production represents close to 80% of the national production of Mexico. At the beginning of Upper Cretaceous, a lowering in sea level, combined with preexisting high relief of the platform margin, is the likely cause of carbonate slope sedimentation in seen in the 3D seismic data volume where the reservoir rock consists mainly of facies of carbonate debris flows deposited on the Yucatan Slope alternating with pelagic deposits. The debris flows consist of heterogeneous carbonate clasts in a carbonate matrix. The formation is diagenetically altered through dolomitization, dissolution, and fracturing. Near the convergence of the North America, Caribbean, and Cocos plates, the study is structurally complex, with significant compression and strike-slip faulting during Late Oligocene to Miocene. The traps include east-west oriented anticlinal structures that are bounded by reverse and thrust faults. The stratigraphic and structural framework of the carbonate reservoirs was interpreted based on 3-D seismic and well data and used to create a 3-D grid for reservoir modeling. For this field, faults are a major control on secondary porosity distribution; therefore, an accurate and detailed fault interpretation is essential for porosity modeling. To enhance our structural interpretation, we applied edge-preserving, structure-oriented filter to the seismic survey, compute coherence, and then enhanced the faults using a modern Laplacian of a Gaussian filter which also measured fault dip and azimuth. These 3D structural images were then integrated to generate a more precise 3-D model framework.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90291 ©2017 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Houston, Texas, April 2-5, 2017