"Prospectivity of the Deepwater Clastic and Carbonate Portion of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Sale 181 Area. Play Concepts and Trap types."
Date: Monday, February 5, 2001
Place: Westchase Hilton, 9999 Westheimer
Time: Social 5:30 p.m., Dinner 6:30 p.m.
Prospectivity of the Deepwater Clastic and Carbonate Portion of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Sale 181 Area-Play Concepts and Trap Types In early December 2001 the MMS will hold the first lease sale in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico area in more than 10 years. There are 1,033 OCS blocks in the Sale 181 area. With 39 blocks leased, that leaves 994 net blocks available for industry to lease. The majority of these 994 blocks have never been leased or drilled.
The deepwater clastic and carbonate part of the OCS sale 181 area covers all or part of 724 blocks or about 4.2 MM acres adjacent to the Cretaceous shelf edge and the Florida Escarpment. Water depths range from about 1,000' in the southwest corner of Destin Dome to over 10,000' in the south-southeast corner of the OCS Sale 181 area. Most of the deepwater clastic and carbonate play acreage is in excess of 5,000' water depth. However, during the last 12 years advances in deepwater drilling and production facility technology have reduced costs respectively. In short, oil companies have more E&P options now than 12 years ago.
The deepwater clastic and carbonate play area is located regionally on the eastern distal part of the Mississippi fan and adjacent to the Florida Escarpment. Analogs for hydrocarbon accumulations are in Vioska Knoll and eastern Mississippi Canyon and may be projected directly into the sale 181 area. Due to location salt and sedimentary accumulations are both thinner here. Tabular salt bodies associated with the upper Mississippi fan are generally absent. The Mississippi fan fold belt terminates in southwest Desoto Canyon and has minor influence on the area. Adjacent to the Florida Escarpment stratigraphy of the deepwater area is composed of a Tertiary clastic section underlain by an upper Mesozoic deepwater carbonate section. The Tertiary component forms a clastic wedge dominated by Pliocene and Miocene age sediments with excellent sand potential. The Tertiary wedge thickens to the west toward the heart of the Mississippi fan and thins and laps onto the top of the Cretaceous as it approaches the Florida Escarpment to the east. One of the major play concepts with Petronius as an analog exists within this region of onlap. The Mesozoic section present here is composed of a Cretaceous and Upper Jurassic section that thickens in a westerly direction like the Tertiary section. Lithology of this section is unknown but is likely to be finer grained basinal equivalents of carbonates penetrated by various wells on the shelf. However, possibility of porous grainstone or oolite flows sourced from the shelf exists. Clastic input from the northwest may also be possible. The base of the Upper Jurassic section coincides with the top of the Louann salt. Salt has been mobile since deposition in Mid Jurassic and appears to have been tectonically active as recent as Late Pliocene. During this period sediments supplied from the northwest interacted with tectonically active salt to form a northwest-southeast trending fold belt. A majority of the existing play types are associated with the trend of this fold belt.
Hydrocarbon accumulations in this area are sourced by either Lower Cretaceous or Upper Jurassic sediments. Hydrocarbons are emplaced by migrating up fault planes from a pressured source into a non pressured reservoir. Wells in eastern Mississippi Canyon have penetrated good quality high porosity reservoir rock in most cases. Trap types may be either stratigraphic or faulted 4-way type structures. Good seal is provided by basinal shales.
At least 7 play concepts exist within the sale 181 area. The largest population of play opportunities will be located adjacent to the Cretaceous shelf margin or Florida Escarpment and along the northwest-southeast trending fold belt in the south-southwest part of the sale 181 area. Stratigraphic pinchouts like that of Petronius will be present along the Florida Escarpment and Cretaceous shelf margin. Basin floor fans, autochthonous salt swells, vertical welds and associated structures, growth structures and channel levee complexes will all be associated with the northwest-southeast trending fold belt.
Recently Shell announced plans to develop 6 wells in eastern Mississippi Canyon. Known as "Na Kika" this production facility will utilize a floating production system, a first for the Gulf of Mexico deepwater. All 6 of these wells are on trend with one of the more highly prospective areas of the 181 sale area, the northwest-southeast trending fold belt. Sale 181 will be a very important sale involving 4.2 MM acres of mainly virgin frontier deepwater territory. There is still ample time to evaluate the area with 2-D data followed by a complete evaluation with 3-D data. Sale 181 will provide players not yet involved as well as those already involved in deepwater E & P the opportunity to enter the play at the same time and to add significant value to corporation assets.
Biographical Sketch:
Rob Kukowski holds B. S. degrees in geology from the University of Wyoming(1979) and in soils/earth science from North Dakota State University(1978). Rob began his career in the oil and gas exploration business in 1980 with Conoco, Inc. here in Houston. Since 1980 Rob has held deepwater positions with Conoco, BP, and Seagull Energy, now Ocean Energy. Presently Rob provides geophysical consulting services for PanCanadian Gulf of Mexico.
"Of Slime and Punishment- Environmental Litigation in a New Age"
Date: Thursday, February 8, 2001
Place: H.E.S.S. Conference Center, 5430 Westheimer Rd. (refer to map ), just West of the Galleria.
Time: Social 5:30 p.m., Dinner 6:30 p.m.
The plaintiff attorney’s heaven is being created. The tempo of lawsuits arising from mold in buildings is mounting at a rapid crescendo. In the past, Congress, regulators, and private litigants have focused their attention in environmental matters on outdoor pollution. In recent months and years, however, the indoor environment has come into focus as a prime target of the media, politicians, regulators, and the plaintiff’s bar. Think of it: alleged injuries are being caused by a completely natural part of the environment, where no regulatory limits have been established, where actual injuries are difficult to find and diagnose, where damage is questionable, where the body of scientific knowledge is very divided, and where deep pocket companies are on the defense side. A perfect environment for litigation.
In this presentation, we will look at the latest wave of litigation, the science of mold in buildings, possible defenses and the future.
Biographical Sketch:
Mr. Smahlik has a BS in industrial technology and an MS in industrial hygiene. He has worked for over 25 years in the capacity of a safety engineer and a hygienist for companies such as Dresser Industries, McClelland Engineering, 3D/International, and currently for Vallen Knowledge Systems.
"Hydrocarbon Potential of the Brazilian Atlantic Margin"
Date: Monday, February 19, 2001
Place: Westchase Hilton, 9999 Westheimer
Time: Social 5:30 p.m., Dinner 6:30 p.m.
See the Vendors and Posters
Introduction
The Brazilian Atlantic Margin is currently undergoing a revolution in the level of knowledge and activity since opening up to foreign oil companies. The acquisition of new high-quality seismic data in deep waters will provide a great impetus to exploration in the next decade. Drilling technology has improved so that we can now consider exploring in water depths of 2-3 km. This opens up huge areas which have never been considered before, and where there is very little seismic data. The 3rd ANP Licensing Round is offering many blocks which fall into this category.
This talk will review the main aspects of the geology of the Atlantic margin from the earliest rifting events in Berriasian times to the recent mass wasting that has caused mega-slumps in areas such as the Amazon Fan and the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin. New frontier areas offered in the 3rd Licensing Round in Brasil will be examined, along with areas that are expected to be offered in the future.
Future Hydrocarbon Potential
Deep water areas (>1000m water) outside the Campos Basin have not been explored yet. The main reservoir targets will be Cretaceous and Tertiary turbiditic sandstones. These reservoirs are structured by downslope sliding on detachments at various levels. Roll-over anticlines are the main traps in water depths up to 1500m and deeper than this compressional fold and thrust belts are developed. Detachment can occur on Aptian salt, from the Santos Basin in the south to the Ceara Basin in the nouth. Multiple detachments also occur at Top Albian, (e.g. Para-Maranhao, Barreirinhas) and within the late Cetaceous and Tertiary deep water shales. When detachments occur at Tertiary level, migration of hydrocarbons from the syn-rift source can be a problem. Late Cretaceous to Tertiary source rocks may be necessary for charging these reservoirs. The quality of the late Cetaceous to Tertiary sources on the Brazilian margin appears to be inferior to their African equivalents due to asymmetric upwelling of colder water. However, new geochemical studies suggest post-salt source rocks can produce oil in some basins (e.g. Foz de Amazonas and Espirito Santo). Biodegredation of oil in turbidite sandstone traps situated at levels where present-day temperatures are less than 80° C is a significant problem in deepwater exploration outside of the main Tertiary depocentres. Besides turbidite reservoirs in deep water, attractive secondary targets exist in large rotated fault blocks, which may contain syn-rift reservoirs and source rocks. These have yet to be tested in deep water.
Biographical Sketch:
Ian Davison spent five years in Brasil lecturing at the Federal University of Salvador, Bahia and consulting on a regular basis for Petrobras. He returned to the UK in 1989 and taught structural geology and basin dynamics at Royal Holloway University of London for ten years. During this time he also worked as a consultant on Brazilian basins, for over sixty different companies. He has recently become a full time consultant specialising on Brasil, South Atlantic conjugate margin reconstructions and salt tectonics.
Contact details: I. Davison, Earthmoves Ltd. 8 Cabrera Avenue, Virginia Water,
Surrey, GU25 4EZ, UK. Tel. +44 1344 842967. e-mail: i.davison@earthmoves.co.uk
Web site www.earthmoves.co.uk
(All of the seismic acquisition companies are processing differently and it will be nice to see different approaches and results in imaging, especially sub-salt.)
Earthmoves Ltd. will be displaying three products: a digital map suite of the South Atlantic; ANP 3rd Brazilian license round block evaluation; and a major report on the Geology and Hydrocarbon Potential of Brazilian Sedimentary Basins. Details of these can be found on our website at www.earthmoves.co.uk
"Integrated Analysis Of The Upper Jurassic Bossier Deltaic Complex, East Texas"
Date: Monday, February 26, 2001
Place: Westchase Hilton, 9999 Westheimer
Time: Social 5:30 p.m., Dinner 6:30 p.m.
Abstract:
Acquisition of high-quality 3D data volumes in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, coupled with proprietary 3D coherency visualization, has allowed for enhanced clarity in imaging deep map-view realizations of Miocene and Pliocene depositional systems in slope and base of slope environments at one to four seconds below mudline. Regional studies and detailed analyses of deepwater seismic facies geometries in this area indicate a dynamic response of depositional systems to seafloor gradient change in time and space.
Evolution of salt-cored fold structures caused critical slope changes through Mio-Pliocene time that affected both regional and local drainage patterns in pre-, syn-, and post-growth strata. Depositional topography related to variable rates of sediment accumulation also played a key role in influencing slope sediment pathways, drainage capture, and compensatory relief. Growth of the fold belt effectively created elevated “plateau” areas deflecting sediment pathways that bypassed their flanks. Differential growth rates within the fold belt resulted in an overall west to east gradient, with younger, more elevated structures developed in the west. This topography was later encroached on, and ultimately enveloped by, Plio-Pleistocene slope progradation. Pliocene drainage capture within the fold belt is evidenced by east-west trending erosional valleys and channel meander belts sourced from evolving dip-fed canyon systems to the west and directed eastwards, for up to 40 miles along strike prior to exiting onto the abyssal plain.
Up slope of the fold belts, Mio-Pliocene depositional rates periodically overwhelmed salt topography, creating a bypass or smoothed slope profile with relatively linear erosional valley systems, locally deflected by salt structures. Geometric aspects of a wide variety of channel and sheet architectural elements interpreted as mud-prone or heterolithic constructional and sand-prone, ponded seismic facies are discussed within the structural-stratigraphic framework with implications for reservoir and seal distribution in the area.
Biographical Sketch:
Ciaran O’Byrne completed a PhD in 1990 on deepwater clastics in a transtensional basin setting at University College, Dublin, Ireland. He then completed a Post-Doctoral study with the Reservoir Modeling Group at Shell Research, The Netherlands, on sequence stratigraphic analysis of nearshore marine and fluvial sediments in the Book Cliffs Utah and its application to reservoir modeling in the North Sea Brent province and in Nigeria. He subsequently joined the Stratigraphic Prediction Group at Shell’s Bellaire Research Center in Houston, USA, involved in domestic and international exploration/production projects and training courses. Ciaran resigned from Shell in 1993 and joined Amoco Production Co.’s Worldwide Exploration Business Group, providing technical support to prospect quality risk and exploration teams. Working primarily in Tertiary basin clastics he was involved in various exploration plays in the S. China Sea, S. America, West Africa, USA, and Mexico. Currently Ciaran is a member of BP’s Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Exploration team and is actively involved in various internal and external sedimentology and stratigraphy networks. In addition, Ciaran continues to provide training classes in clastic sedimentology and stratigraphy at BP. Ciaran is a member of the AAPG, SEPM, IAS, and Houston Geophysical and Geological Societies.
Poster #1:
Sedimentary dynamics of the salt-dominated contienntal slope, Gulf of
Mexico: integration of observations from teh seafloor, near-surface, and
deep subsurface
by Charles D. Winker and James R. Booth (Shell)
Poster #2:
Equilibrium profile and baselevel in submarine channels: examples from Late
Pleistocene systems and implications for the architecture of deepwater
reservoirs
by Carlos Pirmez, R.T. Beaubouef, S.J. Friedmann and D.C. Mohrig
(ExxonMobil)
"Distinguishing Water Saturation Changes from Porosity or Clay Content Changes using Multicomponent Seismic Data"
Date: Wednesday, February 28 2001
Place: Petroleum Club, 800 Bell Avenue, Downtown
Time: Social 11:15 a.m., Lunch 11:45 a.m.
It is difficult to predict whether gas saturation is low or high in reservoir pore spaces prior to drilling. When reservoirs include lateral porosity or clay content changes, this task is even more difficult. However, the problem is easier to address with high-quality multicomponent seismic data. This paper proposes to use Delta_Rps/Delta_Rpp as a partial gas indicator (PGI), where Delta_Rps and Delta_Rpp are defined as the change in the P-SV and P-P reflection coefficients, respectively. The target portion of the reservoir is compared to an inferred background portion of the reservoir, which is assumed to be 100% water saturated.
The Delta_Rps/Delta_Rpp ratio behaves quite differently for high and low gas saturations, as shown by theoretical reflection coefficient computation for a range of examples using the Zoeppritz and Gassmann's equations. The responses of Delta_Rps/Delta_Rpp to porosity and clay content changes are computed using empirical relationships among velocities, porosity and clay content (Wang and Nur, 1992; Han et. al., 1986; Eberhart-Phillips et. al., 1989; Castagna et al., 1985). The ratio is insensitive to the magnitude of porosity or clay content changes, and this behavior is very different from the variations in the ratio associated with changes in gas saturation.
Theoretical reflection coefficient computation, modeling and synthetic seismograms show that Delta_Rps/Delta_Rpp is an effective direct hydrocarbon indicator and PGI for all three classes of gas reservoirs (Rutherford and Willams, 1989) at both shale/sand and sand/shale interfaces. The three classes of reservoirs are classified based on their acoustic impedance contrasts with their overlaying shales. The Delta_Rps/Delta_Rpp ratio can distinguish water saturation changes from porosity or clay content changes and separate regions of high gas saturation from low saturation areas.
Biographical Sketch:
Fuping Zhu received her Ph.D. degree in geophysics from Texas A&M University in 2000, MS in geology from Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, China, in 1989 and BS in geology from Beijing University, China, in 1986. She worked on sedimentology and stratigraphy before she started attending Texas A&M University in 1996. She has worked on seismic processing with Shell and seismic interpretation with Unocal Corp. as a summer intern. Mrs. Zhu is now working on seismic interpretation and AVO with Shell Deepwater Services. Mrs. Zhu is a member of SEG and AAPG.
"Energy Dynamics & Resources""
Date: Wednesday, February 14, 2001
Place: Wyndham Greenspoint Hotel, 12400 Greenspoint, Houston, Texas 77060, (281) 875-2222, Free Parking is Available
Time: 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
"Deep-Water Exploration Opportunities on the Offshore Louisiana Shelf"
Date: Wednesday, February 28 2001
Place: Petroleum Club, 800 Bell Avenue, Downtown
Time: Lunch 11:30 a.m.
The offshore Louisiana shelf has been a prolific producer of oil and gas for more than 70 years. However, most discoveries made since the 1970's were drilled on hydrocarbon indicators. Due to the great success of this method many companies are very reluctant to drill prospects without amplitude anomalies. As a result, significant opportunities exist in Pliocene and Miocene strata beneath bright spot basement or where distribution of depositional facies precludes development of well-defined amplitude anomalies.
3D seismic data have greatly reduced trap risk in structural and combination structural/stratigraphic traps. Charge risk is also lowered as a more accurate assessment of structural timing can be made. However, where hydrocarbon anomalies are not present, reservoir and seal remain as primary risk factors. These risk factors can be reduced by using 2D and 3D seismic data to image and interpret depositional facies. Most deeply buried Early Pliocene and Miocene strata were deposited in upper bathyal and deeper water depths. Facies are similar to present-day deep-water intervals.
Deep-water facies are deposited in Roho fault basins and salt mini-basins. The facies exhibit well-defined systems tracts in both structural settings. These include lower lowstand, ( basin floor fan and slope fan), upper lowstand (prograding complex), transgressive, and highstand intervals. Basin floor fans are lobate, amalgamated and/or layered sheet sands that commonly occur at the base of depositional sequences. In Roho fault basins they abut against the downthrown side of major faults. In salt mini-basins they are developed within paleo-topographic lows. Plays are commonly made in updip pinchouts of the sand packages. The major risk factors in prospecting for basin floor fans is commonly seal. Overlying strata may be sand-rich. Some erosional channels are also developed during early, lower lowstand time. The channels funnel detritus which forms basin floor fans into paleotopographic lows.
During the later portion of lower lowstand time, deposition is characterized by development of amalgamated and multi-story channel-fill complexes. Thin, layered sheet sands are also present. Amplitude anomalies are commonly poorly defined in this facies. Amalgamated sheet sands, however, are uncommon. Both bypass (mud-rich) and sand-rich channel fills are observed. Some large channels show fills by a complex of smaller-scale, sinuous, channel-fill deposits. These channel fills are commonly sand-rich. In contrast, straight channels characterized by onlap fill are more likely to be filled by fine-grained sediment. In Roho fault basins, channels spread out over the width of the basin and sometimes develop classic submarine fan morphology. In salt mini-basins, channels are best developed in elongate lows between salt masses. Most plays in this interval have both structural and stratigraphic trap components (ex: channels cut by a fault). Channel-fills can commonly be identified on 3D seismic data. Once the channels are delineated, a key risk factor is pre-drill assessment of stratigraphic continuity.
A prominent condensed section, characterized by faunal and floral abundance peaks, separates upper and lower lowstand intervals. Upper lowstand strata commonly exhibit amalgamated layered sands deposited in lobate sheets. Some channel sands are also present although these are less common. Morphology of these sands is similar to basin floor fans. Deep-water sands are deposited in along the downthrown sides of growth faults in Roho features and in topographic lows within salt mini-basins. Deep-water sands in this systems tract are commonly identified on the basis of amplitude anomalies and traps are generally structural in nature. Where anomalies are not present reservoir risk can be reduced by developing an understanding of where these sands are most likely to be located and proper analysis of subtle changes in seismic attributes. Highstand and transgressive systems tracts are largely comprised of fine-grained detritus and exhibit little to no reservoir potential. However, shales in the transgressive systems tract may seal amalgamated sheet sands in the underlying upper lowstand.
Biographical Sketch:
Dr. Jory A. Pacht received his B.S. in geology from Ohio University in 1973. He worked as a well-site geologist with Sentry Engineering for a year and a half, then completed his M.S. degree in 1976 at the University of Wyoming. Dr. Pacht received his Ph.D. in geology in 1980 from Ohio State University. During his final year of study he served as Assistant Professor at Kent State University. In 1980 he joined the staff of the Exploration Research Group of ARCO Oil and Gas Company, where he served as a Senior Research Geologist. Dr. Pacht left ARCO and joined RPI International in 1988 as a Senior Scientist. He was immediately sent by that company to the offices of TGS Calibre Geophysical Co. where he worked on sequence stratigraphic projects as a consultant. He joined TGS-Calibre in 1990 and served as principal scientist on large regional studies in the Gulf Coast, Nigeria and West Texas.
Dr. Pacht started Seis-Strat Services, Inc. in 1992. This company provides geophysical and geologic interpretation services to the petroleum industry. The company has continually grown and now employs nine full-time geoscientists and an office administrator. Seis Strat Services, Inc. has completed integrated geophysical and geologic studies in offshore and onshore Gulf of Mexico, Anadarko Basin, West Texas, offshore and onshore California, offshore China, East Java Sea, offshore Myanmar, offshore Korea, Cameroon, Angola, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Cote' d'Ivoire and Egypt. These projects have ranged from detailed field studies to large regional analyses. In 1997 Dr. Pacht and his team have recommended three out of six successful exploration wells and 15 out of 16 successful development wells for clients of Seis Strat Services, Inc. In 1998 Seis Strat geoscientists discovered two new fields and drilled three successful development wells. Dr. Pacht worked as a sequence stratigrapher with a team that developed several 100 million barrel + prospects in West Africa and another that made a 400 million barrel discovery in offshore China.
Dr. Pacht has written more than 80 outside and in-house research papers and abstracts in both sequence stratigraphy and sedimentology. He has won the Excellence of Presentation Award from GCSEPM (1990), the Best Paper Award from HGS (1990) and the Best Paper Award for the Permian Basin Geophysical Society (1995). In addition, he was a runner-up for the AAPG Matson Award (1991) and received Honorable Mention for Best Paper at the SEG National Meeting (1989). In 1995, his paper was selected for publication at SEG as one of the Best of AAPG For SEG. He convened the 1996 GCSEPM Research Conference on Use of Advanced Geophysical and Wireline Technology for Stratigraphic Analysis.