AAPG Bulletin, V. 87, No. 9 (September 2003), P. 1411-1435.

Copyright 2003. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

Geologic framework of upper Miocene and Pliocene gas plays of the Macuspana Basin, southeastern Mexico

W. A. Ambrose,¹ T. F. Wawrzyniec,² Khaled Fouad,³ S. C. Talukdar,⁴ R. H. Jones,⁵ D. C. Jennette,⁶ M. H. Holtz,⁷ Shinichi Sakurai,⁸ S. P. Dutton,⁹ D. B. Dunlap,¹⁰ E. H. Guevara,¹¹ Javier Meneses-Rocha,¹² Jorge Lugo,¹³ Leonardo Aguilera,¹⁴ Jose Berlanga,¹⁵ Lino Miranda,¹⁶ Jos Ruiz Morales,¹⁷ Roberto Rojas,¹⁸ Hector Sols¹⁹

¹Bureau of Economic Geology, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas; email: [email protected]
²Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, MSC03-2040 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-0001; email: [email protected]
³Bureau of Economic Geology, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas; email: [email protected]
⁴14 Robin Run Drive, The Woodlands, Texas 77381; email: [email protected]
⁵Bureau of Economic Geology, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas; email: [email protected]
⁶Bureau of Economic Geology, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas; email: [email protected]
⁷Bureau of Economic Geology, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas; email: [email protected]
⁸Bureau of Economic Geology, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas; email: [email protected]
⁹Bureau of Economic Geology, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas; email: [email protected]
¹⁰Bureau of Economic Geology, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas; email: [email protected]
¹¹Bureau of Economic Geology, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas; email: [email protected]
¹²Pemex Exploracin y Produccin, Macuspana, Villahermosa, and Ciudad del Carmen, Tabasco, Mexico; email: [email protected]
¹³Pemex Exploracin y Produccin, Villahermosa, Mexico; Tacotalpa 106, Prados de Villahermosa, Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico, 86030; email: [email protected]
¹⁴Pemex Exploracin y Produccin, Macuspana, Villahermosa, and Ciudad del Carmen, Tabasco, Mexico; email: [email protected]
¹⁵Pemex Exploracin y Produccin, Macuspana, Villahermosa, and Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico; email: [email protected], email: [email protected]
¹⁶Pemex Exploracin y Produccin, Macuspana, Villahermosa, and Ciudad del Carmen, Tabasco, Mexico; email: [email protected]
¹⁷Pemex Exploracin y Produccin, Macuspana, Villahermosa, and Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico; email: [email protected]
¹⁸Pemex Exploracin y Produccin, Macuspana, Villahermosa, and Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico; email: [email protected]
¹⁹Pemex Exploracin y Produccin, Macuspana, Villahermosa, and Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico; email: [email protected]

AUTHORS

William A. Ambrose is a stratigrapher specializing in clastic sedimentology. He received an M.A. degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983. He worked for Research Planning Institute, Texas from 1984 to 1986 and has been with the Bureau of Economic Geology since 1987, working on a variety of international and Gulf Coast reservoir-characterization and basin-analysis projects.

Tim F. Wawrzyniec is a structural geologist specializing in kinematic analysis and geophysics. He received his Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico (UNM) in 1999 and worked for Vastar and the Bureau of Economic Geology. In 2002, he started GWN Consulting, where he works with the Bureau of Economic Geology on Gulf Coast basin-analysis projects. He recently accepted a senior research scientist position at UNM.

Khaled Fouad has been a senior seismic interpreter at the Bureau of Economic Geology since 1997. He has more than 17 years experience as a seismic interpreter with various major oil companies. He received his B.Sc. degree in 1982 from Alexandria University, Egypt. He received his Diploma of higher studies in 1984 with honors from the same university. His experience includes the Gulf of Mexico, Maracaibo Basin, Vienna Basin, and Gulf of Suez.

Suhas C. Talukdar is a geologist-geochemist with 35 years of professional experience in industry, research, and teaching. He received a Ph.D. in 1973 from Rice University, Houston. His expertise is in petroleum geochemistry, basin modeling, petroleum system analysis, and hydrocarbon-charge assessment. He is presently a consultant with the Bureau of Economic Geology and BaselineDGSI at Woodlands, Texas.

Rebecca H. Jones received her M.S. degree from the University of Wyoming in 1999 and her A.B. degree from Dartmouth College in 1996, both in geology. She worked for ExxonMobil from 1999 to 2001 before joining the Bureau of Economic Geology in 2001. She performs stratigraphic and seismic interpretation in basin-analysis and reservoir-characterization studies.

David Jennette has 15 years of industry experience in nonmarine and shelf- and deep-water reservoir prediction and characterization for ExxonMobil Upstream Research; since going to the Bureau of Economic Geology, he has been involved in high-resolution digital outcrop capture and interpretation and play assessment and characterization of Pemex's turbidite-dominated Veracruz Basin.

Mark H. Holtz is a reservoir engineer with more than 16 years of reservoir characterization experience at the Bureau of Economic Geology. His expertise focuses on integration of geology and engineering in both carbonate and sandstone oil and gas reservoirs. Mark has been involved in primary and secondary oil and gas projects in Texas, Australia, Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico, and Austria.

Shinichi Sakurai is a petrophysicist and was employed by ARCO Technology Operation Services before joining the Bureau of Economic Geology in July 2001. He also worked for Core Laboratories and BP. He has served the Society of Professional Well Log Analysts as a distinguished speaker, a technology committee member, and a symposium-organizing committee member.

Shirley P. Dutton is a senior research scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology with research interests in sedimentology, reservoir characterization, sedimentary petrology, and clastic digenesis. She received a B.A. degree from the University of Rochester and an M.A. degree and her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, all in geology.

Dallas B. Dunlap is a geologist and database coordinator for the Bureau of Economic Geology. He received a B.S. degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1997 and has been employed by the Bureau of Economic Geology since that time. He has worked on many international and domestic projects, focusing on subsurface mapping, modeling, and data management.

Edgar H. Guevara is a research scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology; he previously worked in the Venezuelan petroleum industry. He holds geological degrees from Universidad Central Venezuela and the University of Texas, Austin (M.A. degree and Ph.D.). He has more than 35 years experience in geological studies/project coordination, particularly depositional systems/stratigraphy applications to petroleum exploration, reservoir characterization, and geoenvironmental studies.

Javier Meneses-Rocha received degrees in geology and geological engineering from the Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico and University of Texas at Austin. His work with Pemex includes regional studies, planning and analysis of exploration projects, and evaluation of reserves and resources. He is currently head of the Pemex exploration group in the deep Gulf of Mexico Basin.

Jorge E. Lugo received a bachelor's degree from Escuela Superior de Ciencias Marinas, Universidad Autnoma de Baja California and an M.A. degree from the University of Texas at Austin. In 2002, after 32 years of work mostly in biostratigraphy, he retired from Pemex as a specialist in project coordination. He is currently a consultant working in play analysis with Pemex.

Leonardo Aguilera is an engineer and geologist specializing in integrated reservoir-characterization studies. He has recently been involved in several field studies with Pemex in southeastern Mxico, where results from combined petrophysical, petrographic, engineering, and geologic studies have led to an improved evaluation of hydrocarbon resources.

Jose A. Berlanga is a biostratigrapher specializing in foraminifera. He received a Ph.D. from the Universidad Autnoma de Barcelona in 1997. He has worked for Pemex since 1983, working on a variety of national and international biostratigraphy projects.

Lino Miranda is a geologist. He was with the Instituto Politcnico Nacional in 1984 and attended the Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico from 1989 to 1992. He has been with Pemex since 1984 as a stratigrapher, working in the Tertiary basins in southeast Mxico, involved with projects dealing with reservoir characterization, potential, and reserves.

Jos Ruiz Morales is a geologist. He received an M.A. degree from the Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico in 1989. He has been with Pemex since 1980, working on different stratigraphy and carbonate sedimentology projects in Reynosa. Since 1992, he has focused on sedimentology and diagenesis issues to evaluate the oil potential in the marine region in Campeche, Mexico.

Roberto Rojas is a geologist with Pemex Exploracin y Produccin's offshore division in Ciudad del Carmen. He specializes in stratigraphy and sedimentology integrated with structural geology and has recently been involved in regional characterization of Tertiary depositional systems, tectonic evolution, and plays in the Macuspana Basin.

Hector Sols is a geological technician working in the Macuspana field office south of Villahermosa, Mxico. He specializes in geological and engineering database systems. In the recent Bureau of Economic Geology-Pemex play analysis of the Macuspana Basin, Sols coordinated logistics of cores and samples for geological and petrographic description and compiled field data for the play analysis.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABSTRACT