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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

Southeast Asia Petroleum Exploration Society (SEAPEX)

Abstract


Proceedings of the South East Asia Petroleum Exploration Society Volume V, 1980
Pages 23-62

The Habitat of Oil and Gas on Continental Margins

M. K. Horn

Abstract

In view of the supposed environmental impact, political problems and the high cost of offshore drilling, why does the petroleum industry persist in the offshore search for oil and gas? The reason is simple: that is where much of the remaining undiscovered petroleum is believed to be, and the world needs the energy.

Discovery of offshore oil can be aided by the analysis of presently known productive basins on continental margins. A review of those basins containing giant oil and gas fields leads to the following conclusions: (1) Type-A rifted margins have yielded the greatest number of giant accumulations to date; (2) continental margin reservoirs are primarily late Mesozoic — early Tertiary clastics, with important carbonate sections; (3) the tectonic history of a margin leaves a sequential sedimentary overprint which may be predictable; (4) the relative location of source beds and type of source material are quasi-predictable as a function of basin type; (5) each basin type has a quasi-predictable structural style.


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