HYDROCARBON SETTING IN THE ONSHORE GULF OF MEXICO

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HYDROCARBON SETTING IN THE ONSHORE GULF OF MEXICO

• What We Dont Know , and
• What We Can Find
• in a Mature World-Class Hydrocarbon Province

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WHY THIS SEMINAR?

• Onshore GOM A Mature Province
• Written Off by Majors well, sort of
• New Exploration needs New Ideas
• Better Exploring through Tectonics and
  Stratigraphy
• But still, most HC found in existing fields
• The Era of the Develicat
• Share Our Successes - our Failures - our Ideas!

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AIM OF THIS TALK

• Take a Regional View of the Western and Central
  Gulf Coast Basin (Onshore Gulf of Mexico)
• Set the Stage for others talks with Big
  Picture
• Focus on what we dont know -- where the future
  plays may lie!

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THE BIG PICTURE

• Mesozoic Rifting unstitches Paleozoic Assembling
• Leaves High and Low Blocks strike slip in South
  Texas, MAFLA, elsewhere?
• Cretaceous Events
• Mexican Subsidence and Compression
• Thermal Doming
• Tertiary Filling in the Gulf, with a Salt (and
  Shale) Cushion

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END OF PALEOZOIC
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EARLY MESOZOIC
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JURA-CRETACEOUS
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LATE CRETACEOUS
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PALEOGENE
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NEOGENE
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THREE FOCUS AREAS

• Northern Gulf Rim - Jurassic Cretaceous
• Established clastic carbonate plays
• South Texas and the Border
• Different Tectonics, different plays
• Tertiary Shelf Margins
• Middip, SMD and deep-water plays

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North Rim - SMACKOVER
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North Rim - HAYNESVILLE
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North Rim - TITHONIAN
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North Rim - BERRIASIAN
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LOWER RIO GRANDE BORDER REGION

• Also known as Rio Grande Embayment
• Junction of Gulf of Mexico Cordillera
• GM TrJ Extension, subsidence, alkaline Kv,
  gravity tectonics
• Cord PTr arc, J transcurrent, JK extension, K
  subsidence, KT compression, Tv and T uplift
• Shared stratigraphy since mid-Jurassic
• Variety of hydrocarbon habitats

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TECTONIC MAP OVERVIEW
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CRUSTAL CROSS SECTION
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Paleozoic andTriassic
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GULF OPENING
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BORDER RIFT
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KT Subsidence and Compression
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MAVER-ICK-RIO GRANDE MAP
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Cenozoic Uplift Gravity Gliding
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GULF COAST MAP
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EXPLORATION POSSIBILITIES

• Masked mid-Jurassic structures
• Transcurrent structures, rift valleys abound
• Small crustal blocks may be found, with Jurassic
  carbonate shoals rimming them
• Could affect subsequent salt movement
• K subsidence
• Migration NE from Mexican hydrocarbon kitchens
• Into basin-edge traps in South Texas
• KT Burial
• Eagle Ford maturity window shallows to SW
• Salt tectonics
• South Texas exploration is different from areas
  to east!

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TERTIARY - SEQSTRAT PLAYS

• Shelf-margin deltas in growth-faulted
  environments
• Classic (since 1950s), mostly mature
• Middip channel and shelf settings
• Deepwater sands seaward of the shelf margin
• Subsalt plays and tiered structures

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YEGUA PLAYS
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SPECULATION ON FUTURE ONSHORE PLAYS

• Deep Water Fan Deposits increasingly important -
  J, K and T
• Subsalt Play for Wilcox?
• Renewed Focus on Source Rocks and Migration
  Pathways
• Shallow Oil and Heavy Oil - a technological
  frontier
• Life After Bright Spots

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THANKS!