Published 1995 as part of Memoir 62
Copyright © 1995 The American Association of Petroleum Geologists.   All Rights Reserved.

More than 4500 wildcat wells were drilled from 1980 to 1990 in South America. Approximately 355 of these resulted in hydrocarbon discoveries. An estimated 12% of the discoveries contain reserves greater than 100 MMBO. Several of the larger finds (>500 MMBO), such as Cusiana (Colombia), Furrial-Musipan (Venezuela), Caño Limón (Colombia), and Marlim (Brazil), are important among the giant fields found worldwide since 1980. Most of the larger discoveries were made by national oil companies in Venezuela, Mexico, and Brazil. The probability of finding large oil fields (>500 MMBO) is greatest in the Campos, Llanos, Reforma-Campeche, Maracaibo, and Maturin basins. Smaller, but still significant fields (50-250 MMBO) may still be found in the Neuquén, San Jorge, Austral, Tarija, Marañon-Napo-Putumayo, Magdalena, and Tampico-Misantla basins. More than 170 BBO of proven reserves have been found in the highest potential Latin American basins. Undiscovered oil resources of 40-80 BBO are estimated to remain in the same group based on historical field size data and current geologic knowledge. Frontier and emerging basins may also contain significant resources, but limited data makes it difficult to estimate their undiscovered potential.