AAPG Bulletin, V. 82 (1998), No. 5B (May 1998 Part B), P. 865-877.

Evaluating the Petroleum Systems of the Northern Deep Gulf of Mexico Through Integrated Basin Analysis: An Overview¹

Paul Weimer,² Mark G. Rowan,² Barry C. McBride,³ and Roy Kligfield⁴

©Copyright 1998.  The American Association of Petroleum Geologists.  All Rights Reserved

¹Manuscript received December 12, 1996; revised manuscript received October 16, 1997; final acceptance November 19, 1997.
²Energy and Minerals Applied Research Center, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0399.
³Energy and Minerals Applied Research Center, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0399. Present address: HS Resources, 1999 Broadway, Suite 3600, Denver, Colorado 80202.
⁴Energy and Minerals Applied Research Center, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0399. Present address: SignalSoft Corp., 2045 Broadway, Boulder, Colorado 80302.

We thank Kevin Biddle (former AAPG elected editor) and Ken Wolgemuth (AAPG publications manager) for their support and input in reviewing these papers. This series of papers reflects research that was done in the Gulf of Mexico Research Consortium at the University of Colorado during 1992-1996. Two Ph.D. and eight M.S. degrees were awarded for research done related to this project. We thank the following companies and their many representatives for their support and input: Agip, Amoco, Anadarko, BHP, BP Exploration, Burlington Resources, CXY Energy, Chevron USA, CNG, Conoco, Enterprise, Exxon, Marathon, Mobil, Occidental, PanCanadian, Pennzoil, Petrobras, Phillips, Shell, Texaco, Total, Union Pacific, and Unocal. Their support has been crucial for the success of this research. We extend special thanks to Halliburton Geophysical (now Western Geophysical), specifically to Bob Graebner, John Anderson, and Gary White, for the seismic data used in this project. We are indebted to PaleoData Inc. and Art Waterman for use of their biostratigraphic data. Digital logs were kindly provided by Marathon (Tricia Santogrossi). Software donations from GeoQuest, CogniSeis Development (Pat Poe, Robert Ratliff), Landmark Graphics (Thom Fisher), Platte River Associates (Jay and China Leonard), and Zeh Graphics (Jerry Martin) were essential to the success of our study. Special thanks to Ryan Crow, Jennifer Crews, and Peter Varnai for their help in drafting the figures. We thank Kevin Biddle, Bryant Korn, Clint Moore, and Kevin Schofield for their comments on drafts of this paper, although we alone are responsible for the interpretations presented here. Acknowledgment is made to the Donors of the Petroleum Research Fund, administered by the American Chemical Society, for partial support of this work. 

ABSTRACT

Exploration and development activity has increased significantly during the past 5 years in the northern deep Gulf of Mexico. This activity has been caused by several factors, including significant discoveries in deep water (>1500-ft water depth), outstanding reservoir performance in some of these discoveries, expiration of 10-year leases originally purchased in the mid-1980s, innovative production techniques, and new federal royalty relief. Exploration and production has occurred in three general exploration subprovinces: present shelf, deep water, and the subsalt that extends from shelf into upper slope. Each subprovince consists of slightly different geology and, subsequently, different economic scenarios.

This paper introduces the geologic setting for a portion of the outer shelf and upper to middle slope region in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The following eight papers demonstrate how the petroleum systems of the deep Gulf of Mexico can be analyzed by using an integrated approach. This issue of the Bulletin includes papers that describe the petroleum geology of the northern Green Canyon and Ewing Bank region: petroleum fields and discoveries, sequence stratigraphy, biostratigraphy, three-dimensional seismic stratigraphic interpretation, structural geology using restorations, interaction of salt tectonics and sedimentation, and geothermal modeling and path migration prediction.