Introduction
The recent discovery of a hugely prolific oil play in Guyana, early indications of a potential change in the political climate in Venezuela, and recent industry activity in Colombia and Trinidad & Tobago make this an opportune time to re-evaluate the plate tectonic evolution of the region (Figures 1 and 2). The CAMGOM team brings new data, new tools, and a fresh yet experienced set of eyes to the complex series of Mesozoic and Tertiary basins that contain some of the world’s most productive petroleum systems, many of which are yet to realize their full potential. The professionals of U3 Explore and Global Tectonics specialize in basin analysis, the development of play-based exploration programs, and the development of deformable plate models. Each team member has more than thirty years of experience in the study of South America and the Caribbean, as well as their conjugate margins. This expertise has now been brought to bear in the CAMGOM Joint Industry Project to revitalize exploration and project development in the focus area of the study.
Objectives
The primary objective of the CAMGOM Project is to provide subscribers with an innovative tectonic and geological framework with which to re-evaluate all the basins in the region (Figures 1 and 2), with an initial focus on basins around the southern margin of the Caribbean Plate and the adjacent northern South America plate (Figure 2). The Project results will be accessible online through a GIS portal and presented as a set of maps and reports for key tectonostratigraphic intervals. The CAMGOM Project will be funded by a Consortium of National Governments and private-sector E&P companies.
Subscribers will gain access to Consortium resources including:
- A new tectonic framework built on the Global Tectonics deformable plate model.
- A new and comprehensive geological and geophysical data framework utilizing the U3D database of reservoir and field data, which includes previously unseen recent and historic data from Venezuela.
- Online GIS portal.
- Maps and reports.
- Access to an integrated team of highly experienced regional experts and E & P professionals and plate tectonic modelers through a series of scheduled reservoir and field data database, including workshops.
Background
The plate tectonic evolution of the CAMGOM area was the subject of intense study in the late twentieth century as active exploration took place around the Gulf of Mexico, Colombia and in Trinidad & Tobago (Ysaccis, 1997; Pindell, Higgs& Dewey, 1988; Meschede and Frisch, 1988). As exploration matured, and political risk increased in Venezuela, which hosts one of the world’s largest petroleum systems, much of the interest in the area waned across the petroleum industry. Despite this, significant volumes of data continued to be acquired, and academic research in the area also continued (Escalona and Mann, 2011; Bathen et al.,2013; Bartolini and Mann, 2015 and papers therein; Lugo and Audemard, 2021).
Over the years there have been several attempts to develop software and multi-client and academic rigid tectonic plate models for the region (e.g., PLATES, GPLATES, PaleoGIS, GeTech, PaleoAtlas, and CBTH). This type of rigid plate model is inadequate for the highly complex tectonic settings found in the region. To our knowledge, only Exxon-Mobil has developed a palinspastic deformable plate model for the Central Atlantic (Kneller et al., 2012) and for the Gulf of Mexico (Kneller and Johnson, 2011) using their own proprietary plate reconstruction software. This radical new approach to plate modeling has been cited by Exxon-Mobil as being instrumental in the discovery of the prolific oil play in Guyana. The CAMGOM Consortium now proposes to use a similar plate reconstruction method using software developed by Global Tectonics (Ady and Whittaker, 2019), which has also been credited with the discovery of new oil plays elsewhere in the world.
Methodology
One of the anticipated outcomes of this project is that the CAMGOM team will incorporate into one comprehensive view the results of all regional studies, recent drilling results, industry and academic studies, and the knowledge of local experts in Venezuelan petroleum geology. Data acquisition has continued in Venezuela over the past twenty or more years despite a lack of interest and financial investment by international companies, thus the CAMGOM team is in a unique position to fill the significant data gaps that developed over recent decades.
Recent extensive work by U3 Explore regional experts has significantly revised outdated play concepts developed in the 1990s. These play concepts will be further updated throughout the Project by incorporating more recent drilling results and integration with the new tectonic framework, providing fresh insights into petroleum systems across the region. In Year 2 of the Project, updated play concepts and integration with the new tectonic framework will extend to all the regional study area, which will include the other important hydrocarbon-rich basins such as the Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Guyana/Suriname, and the conjugate African Margin.
Through work on various industry and government projects, the CAMGOM team have spent the past twenty years contributing to the understanding of the processes responsible for the tectonic evolution of the region. The plate tectonic model will draw upon research previously carried out on the tectonic evolution of the Central and South Atlantic and extend as far south as the Romanche Fracture Zone and as far north as the Gulf of Mexico (Figure 1).
Proprietary Data and Tools
U3D
The proprietary U3D database and data analysis tools are only available through the CANGOM project. Using these tools, the team will evaluate the timing and sequence of the events responsible for basin formation, fill, deformation, and consequent implications for the prospectivity of the margins. U3D comprises a large online GIS Portal and associated analytical tools (Figure 3). The bulk of the data is reservoir and field information from U3D (formerly the Global “Cossey Deepwater Turbidite Database”). This proprietary database has been recently updated and expanded to incorporate detailed knowledge of the basins and petroleum systems of northern South America, with particular emphasis on filling data gaps from the Venezuelan basins.
Global Tectonics (GT) Deformable Plate Model.
Global Tectonics(www.global-tectonics.com )has developed a deformable plate model for the North, Central, and South Atlantic using proprietary palinspastic deformable plate modeling software (Figure 4). The modeling methodology is described in detail in Ady and Whittaker (2019). The current deformable plate model for the Central and South Atlantic has been in development since 2019 and has benefitted from the integration of large regional datasets through a series of government-sponsored and private-sector projects.
The GT plate modeling software is unique in that it employs a data-driven approach to generate a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of continental rifting and early breakup. We leverage seismic interpretations, as well as data such as crustal nonlinear-break up stretching that varies both along the strike and from proximal to distal thickness, gravity, magnetics, and well data, to quantify the nonlinear pre-breakup stretching that varies both along the strike and from proximal to distal areas of the margin.
Output from the GT model is provided for significant tectono-stratigraphic intervals from the pre-rift to the formation of oceanic crust. The output includes beta factors, extension velocity, and crustal thickness through time, which can be used as input into heat flow modeling and 2D kinematic modeling software to determine the thermal history and areas of tectonic subsidence and marginal uplift. Restored pre-rift terranes, magnetic and gravity data provide insightful information on tectonic inheritance that can be correlated across the conjugate margins. It has been used successfully on a variety of projects for industry and government from the Arctic, North Atlantic, Labrador Sea, the Central, Equatorial and South Atlantic.
Schedule
The work will be carried out in four phases throughout an initial two-year subscription period with specific deliverables tied to each phase, providing immediate benefits to the subscribers. The four phases represent an iterative process of data integration and analysis and model refinement. Information from each project phase will be shared and discussed with subscribers at biannual workshops in Houston. Additional subscriber-specific workshops can be arranged upon request.
Project Deliverables
The project will be managed in a “Joint Industry Project” format familiar to corporate and government research managers.
Project deliverables formats
- Project report describing the methods and project results in .pdf format.
- Maps of the reconstructions with proprietary basin, play, field outlines, and properties in GeoTIFF format.
- Paleo-geography maps in GeoTIFF format.
- GIS portal for viewing/combining the individual maps and data layers.
Additional licensing available for data access
License for U3D database (basin, field, reservoir analytical platform and database; unlimited seats per company)
License to the Global Tectonics data model for the Central-South Atlantic and Caribbean study area (plate boundaries, poles of opening, rotation files, Beta-factors, crustal thickness in grid and shape file formats)
Downloadable GIS projects (ArcGIS package of the maps and geodatabase)
Possible other data providers (e.g., gravity inversions, geochemistry, etc.)
Contact
Sales:
Kenneth Mohn
MobilePhone: +1-713-485-9696
E-mail: kwmohn123@gmail.com
