Hydrocarbons in the Caribbean

Abstract

Hydrocarbons occur around Caribbean margins. They range from shows and non-commercial discoveries along the Greater Antilles and in Central America, to the major oil province of Colombia-Venezuela-Trinidad, where major gas accumulations also lie offshore. Source rocks are Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary in age. Oil also occurs on Barbados. Chemistry links it to Venezuela’s upper Cretaceous La Luna Formation. Seismic data show correlative Cretaceous-Eocene sections and indicate presence of continental crust below the island (supported by seismic data over and ancient inherited zircons from the Lesser Antilles). A seismic line recorded over the eastern part of the Aves Ridge to east of the Lesser Antilles may carry a hydrocarbon chimney over the Ridge. In 1979 the vessel Researcher, surveying water columns in the eastern Caribbean-Sargasso area, encountered heavy oil floating 200 metres below sea level. Estimated volume ranged 7 — 30 million barrels. Chemistry indicated degraded, natural oil attributed to seepage in the Caribbean. DSDP drilling encountered upper Cretaceous source rocks on the Caribbean interior. Seismic data over the Caribbean interior indicate Jurassic-Cretaceous carbonate platforms and thick Cenozoic clastic sections. While Jurassic-Cretaceous sections of northern S America thicken and become metamorphic towards the plate boundary (mirrored in the Greater Antilles), they may survive as rich hydrocarbon systems on the plate interior. The Caribbean is bracketed by the giant Gulf of Mexico and northern S American hydrocarbon provinces. Five times larger in area, the Caribbean is as well known today,

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90330©2018 AAPG Hedberg: Geology of Middle America – the Gulf of Mexico, Yucatan, Caribbean, Grenada and Tobago Basins and Their Margins “Integration of the geology of the area from the southern onshore of North America to the northern onshore of South America”, Siguenza, Guadalajara, Spain, July 2-5, 2018