Journal of Petroleum Geology, Vol.3,
No.1, pp. 3-59,1980
©Copyright 2000 Scientific Press,
Ltd.
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY OF NORTHERN
CENTRAL AMERICA
William F. 
Bishop
*
*Regional Exploration Coordinator,
International Project, Tenneco Oil E & P, Box 2511, Houston,
Texas 77001, USA .
Abstract
Major reserves of oil exist in the Reforma
area of Tabasco and Chiapas states and the Campeche Shelf of SE
Mexico in high-energy, bank-edge, reef-derived or reef-associated
carbonate rocks, ranging in age from Late Jurassic to earliest
Late Cretaceous. It is the conclusion of this study that the
Reforma reservoir facies does not extend into W Guatemala.
However, there the potential for major reserves in bank and
lagoonal carbonates of similar age is considered excellent. A
variety of structures, mostly resulting from salt tectonics, is
present. Known reservoir rocks include fractured carbonates with
secondary porosity resulting from solution and dolomitization,
and limestones with primary intergranular porosity.An indigenous
source is likely for the large quantities of oil which have been
tested at Rubelsanto. Seals, in the form of thick intervals of
Cretaceous anhydrite and, in places, of Tertiary fine-grained
clastics, are abundant.
