ABSTRACT

The results of an extensive geological and geophysical evaluation of the Pulley Ridge area in the offshore South Florida Basin, Eastern Gulf of Mexico, indicates that this area contains all of the critical factors necessary for the development of considerable hydrocarbon accumulations. Geophysical mapping of nearly 5,000 miles of marine seismic data on six key horizons, extending stratigraphically from top Cedar Keys Formation through top Basement, has identified numerous structural closures on and between the Dollar Bay Formation and the Bone Island Formation. Geological evaluation of wells, both onshore and offshore, confirms the presence of at least four viable potential carbonate reservoir units in the Lower Cretaceous section. Stratigraphically, from oldest to youngest, these are the Pumpkin Bay Formation, the Brown Dolomite units of the Lehigh Acres Formation, the Sunniland Formation, (which is the main producing interval onshore Florida in the "Sunniland Trend") and the Dollar Bay Formation.

Organically rich, oil-prone carbonate rocks are found in several Lower Cretaceous stratigraphic intervals between the Bone Island Formation and the Dollar Bay Formation. In addition, extensively-developed trapping seals consisting of micritic limestones and anhydrites are common in the stratigraphic section.

Utilizing state-of-the-art marine seismic data currently available to the oil industry over the Pulley Ridge area, additional geophysical and geological evaluation of the lead areas already identified could result in the discovery of significant hydrocarbon reserves in this shallow water, sparsely drilled, carbonate basin oil play.