Abstract

The OCS Sale 181 deepwater clastic and carbonate play area covers all or part of 724 federal offshore blocks in the Eastern Planning Area of the Gulf of Mexico, about 4.2 million acres adjacent to the Florida Escarpment. Water depth here ranges from 1000 ft (305 m) in the southwestern Destin Dome Area to over 10,000 ft (3,050 m) in the Lloyd Area, which has the largest land area lying under more than 5,000 ft (1,524 m) of water. The stratigraphy consists of a Tertiary clastic section dominated by Miocene rocks overlying a Cretaceous and Jurassic deepwater carbonate section. The carbonate section is the deepwater equivalent of the Mesozoic carbonate shelf area to the north in the Destin Dome and Viosca Knoll areas. The lithology of the deepwater carbonate section is unknown, but it is anticipated to be fine grained with a minor amount of coarser-grained sediment.

Salt tectonics played a major role in the structural and stratigraphic development of the area. A variety of play concepts and trap types exist. Hydrocarbon accumulations associated with these play concepts are most likely sourced by Cretaceous or Jurassic rocks present in the deeper part of the stratigraphic section. Hydrocarbon accumulations will be comparable in size to current deepwater discoveries and producing fields.

OCS sale 181 will present a unique opportunity for oil companies to enter the play at the same time as competing oil companies in order to add significant value to corporation assets. Recent royalty rollback in the deepwater GOM and technical advances combined with a very stable political climate make this an extremely attractive "world class" play.

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