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Sosa Patron, A. A., J. G. Cardenas Lopez, C. Cardenas Lara, O. Pinto Gomez, M. E. Guzzy Arredondo, M. E. Monroy Audelo, and R. Castellanos Calvo, 2009, Integrated geological interpretation and impact on the definition of Neogene plays in the Isthmus Saline Basin, Mexico, in C. Bartolini, and J. R. Roman Ramos, eds., Petroleum systems in the southern Gulf of Mexico: AAPG Memoir 90, p. 2947.

DOI:10.1306/13191076M903330

Copyright copy2009 by The American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Integrated Geological Interpretation and Impact on the Definition of Neogene Plays in the Isthmus Saline Basin, Mexico

Alejandro A. Sosa Patron,1 Juan de G. Cardenas Lopez,2 Celia Cardenas Lara,3 Oscar Pinto Gomez,4 Ma. Elena Guzzy Arredondo,5 Ma. Eugenia Monroy Audelo,6 Reynaldo Castellanos Calvo7

1Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) Exploracion and Produccion, Centro Tecnico Administrativo, Activo Regional de Exploracion Sur, Villahermosa, Tabasco C.P., Mexico
2Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) Exploracion and Produccion, Centro Tecnico Administrativo, Activo Regional de Exploracion Sur, Villahermosa, Tabasco C.P., Mexico
3Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) Exploracion and Produccion, Centro Tecnico Administrativo, Activo Regional de Exploracion Sur, Villahermosa, Tabasco C.P., Mexico
4Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) Exploracion and Produccion, Centro Tecnico Administrativo, Activo Regional de Exploracion Sur, Villahermosa, Tabasco C.P., Mexico
5Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) Exploracion and Produccion, Centro Tecnico Administrativo, Activo Regional de Exploracion Sur, Villahermosa, Tabasco C.P., Mexico
6Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) Exploracion and Produccion, Centro Tecnico Administrativo, Activo Regional de Exploracion Sur, Villahermosa, Tabasco C.P., Mexico
7Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) Exploracion and Produccion, Centro Tecnico Administrativo, Activo Regional de Exploracion Sur, Villahermosa, Tabasco C.P., Mexico

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank the Subdirectorate of Technical Exploration Coordination (SCTER) of the Southern Region Exploration Asset Group of PEMEX for allowing the release of this technical document. We also give special recognition to Thomas Buerkert and Claudio Bartolini for their valuable commentary and corrections during the review of the original document.

ABSTRACT

The Isthmus Saline Tertiary Basin covers 9800 km2 (3784 mi2)on the coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico. This work concentrates mainly on updating the chronostratigraphic framework of the Neogene-producing plays in this economically important area by integrating data obtained from new three-dimensional (3-D) seismic surveys and recently drilled wells.

The interpretation of integrated data indicated that the basin began to evolve in the upper Miocene and also solved correlation problems in the upper Miocene and lower Pliocene sequences with a positive impact on updating the Neogene geological framework. The Neogene section is controlled by a system of extensional counterregional faults associated with minibasins formed by salt evacuation that governed the location of depocenters containing reservoir rocks in rollover and pinch-out traps. The Chiapaneca orogeny created additional pre-upper Miocene compressional traps. Paleoecological conditions when combined with seismostratigraphic analysis are relevant criteria for defining bioevents that equate to chronostratigraphic surfaces for plays. These surfaces are key for understanding the plays and for improving the economic evaluation of the basin.

Within this chronostratigraphic framework, the main reservoirs for the area's giant fields are turbiditic and shelfal deltaic sands in upper Miocene and lower to upper Pliocene sections. Additionally, as indicated by our analyses, lower and middle Miocene basinal sands have been tested and display exploration potential.

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