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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
Houston Geological Society Bulletin
Abstract
Abstract: Modern Workflows for the International
Explorationist, with Examples from Southeast Asia
and Benin, West Africa
By
The Energy Outpost Company
Early international oil and gas discoveries resulted from "bread
and butter" field work by pioneering geologists. Later discoveries,
more often than not, began in Third World data rooms
filled with yellowed well reports, gravity maps, and seismic sections.
The international exploration
workflow has always been a
moving target, and the skill profile of the successful explorationist
has evolved in the ceaseless attempt to stay competitive.
The newest workflow innovations involve the application
of newly emerging software technologies to vintage and recent
digital data. The purpose of this presentation is to review and
demonstrate examples of modern geology and geophysics
(G&G) workflows that can be used by international
explorationists to "mine" existing digital data for overlooked
potential.
The lecture is in three parts. Part one discusses recent watershed
workflow changes of particular relevance to the modern
explorationist. Part two presents Southeast Asian exploration
(and development) practices using these new approaches, with
several illustrative examples. Part three reviews workflow design
and results from the Benin offshore, a frontier area just beyond
the latest string of West African discoveries to the east and south.
Workflow Changes
New workflows leverage powerful new integrated software. They
are changing the way that explorationists work in both frontier
basins as well as in areas densely covered with exploration
3D.
Fast workstations can now be harnessed to automate much of
the tedious work that often consumes a project. This new "recoupling"
technology frees stratigraphers, structural geologists,
petrophysicists, depth imaging specialists, and others to work
more creatively in a "decoupled" mode, channeling energies into
the search for overlooked potential. Consequent recoupling of
individual workflows onto a dynamic visualized geologic model
enhances team integration and allows technical work to quickly
result in informed business decisions.
Southeast Asia
The exploration
and development of Southeast Asian Tertiary
basins has always been difficult. One reason is the highly faulted
and often nonmarine nature of these basins, with attendant
sparse flooding surfaces and difficult correlations. Workflows
based on classically integrated G&G often spiral out of control as
structural and stratigraphic uncertainties become entangled with
each other. A more natural workstation-based sequence stratigraphic
and structural (SM) approach helps to remove these
bottlenecks and uncover overlooked potential. These new workflows
rely heavily on the use of automated geological modeling,
coherence/variance 3D cubes, visualization techniques, and
inversion/AVO technologies.
West Africa
An ongoing Benin frontier project is reviewed to illustrate new
workflows in frontier areas. Lying on Nigeria's northern border,
Benin possesses favorable petroleum geology though it has a disappointing
exploration
history. The regional geology and local
petroleum systems are examined, along with a short chronology
of the
exploration
history. The special problems for
exploration
in Benin are then discussed, and the design of a tailored reconnaissance
workflow is presented, one specifically geared to the
search for subtle combination structural/stratigraphic traps.
Results are presented that demonstrate new insights into both
the geology and prospectivity of offshore Benin. These results
include the delineation of a new "combination" trap fairway on
the shelf (see Figures 1 and 2) as well as Upper Cretaceous and
Tertiary outer continental shelf plays.
The presentation concludes with speculation on the role that
modern workflows will play in the organization of international
exploration
and development asset teams and departments.
End_Page 10---------------
Figures 1. and 2. Depth imaging of highly distorted "time" seismic sections offshore Benin reveals significant and overlooked
petroleum potential beneath the steeply sloping West African shelf. This developing play is the product of a
modern "frontier" geology and geophysics
workflow designed
to reduce major risk components through the staged application of depth imaging and other technologies. The depth-imaged version (Figure 2.,
processed under the guidance of Dr. David Kessler of CGG Houston) unveils highly
masked counter-regional dip and an apparent late Albian to
Cenomanian carbonate buildup. Finely imaged stratigraphic detail, interval velocities, and well control combine to delineate a new Upper
Cretaceous
exploration
fairway along trend with two commercial discoveries. Thanks to Abacan
Resource Corporation for permission to release
these data to the Houston
exploration
community.
End_of_Record - Last_Page 11---------------