ABSTRACT

Winning bids of $15,179,748 and $2,041,709 for High Island Blocks A-561 and A-560 were submitted by the Clark Group at the May 29, 1974 OCS lease sale. These bids were based on interpretation of geophysical data which indicated hydrocarbon accumulations in an anticlinal structures downthrown to a major fault.

Eight exploratory wells were drilled on these blocks between June, 1975 and October 1976. The exploratory drilling program confirmed the presence of hydrocarbons, and revealed complex stratigraphy with a variety of trapping mechanisms

Information from several sources clarified the stratigraphic picture to selection of a platform location. Computed logs were used for water-level identification in shaly sands and for correlation. Dipmeter logs and petrographic analysis of sidewall cores allowed interpretation of sand geometry, transport directions, and depositional environments.

The location of the initial platform was selected by the integration of seismic data and a geologic model of submarine-fan deposition. An eight-pile platform will be set in the summer of 1978.