Understanding the regional setting in Guatemala is important for two reasons. One is scientific, to improve our understanding of geologic history especially from the Permian to the Present and to improve our understanding of present day plate tectonic processes occurring in this complex region. The other reason is more related to the problem of finding large hydrocarbon deposits by understanding the development of the Peten basin. In Mexico, at the northern end of the Chiapas-Peten basin, lie the Reforma area fields and Campeche field. The stratigraphy of the rocks differs slightly in Guatemala from those found in Mexico, but the potential reservoir rocks have many of the same characteristics as those found in the Mexican oil fields. The reserves of the Mexican fields have been estimated at over 60 BBO.

In Guatemala, a country of 85,000 square miles where only 75 wells have been drilled, reservoir rocks of the Coban can be found in basinal, and arch settings, both of which are favorable for hydrocarbon entrapment. Fault types range from normal and thrust faults to more complex strike-slip faults. Anticlinal folds are untested to under-tested.

Oil is found primarily in the Coban limestones but there is also some potential for hydrocarbons in sands of the Jurassic Todos Santos Formation. In the southern Peten basin where commercial oil deposits have been found, evaporites have trapped hydrocarbons. In the northern Peten basin, structures of low relief will trap heavy oil similar to that found in the Coban B's Xan horizon. The La Libertad arch, a major east-west trending anticlinorium, will require additional drilling to find commercial quantities of hydrocarbons likely to be trapped there.

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