HRT & Petroleum

Marcio will be speaking on Sunday, October, 11 from 6:30pm – 7:30pm.

Marcio will present a paper entitled: The Super Giant Pre-Salt Petroleum Systems Recently Discovered in the Offshore Greater Campos Basin, Brazil.

Marcio will also discuss the Solimoes Basin in his speech.

The Super Giant Pre-Salt Petroleum Systems recently discovered in the Offshore Greater Campos Basin, Brazil

Abstract

Marcio.R. Mello1,HRT @ Petroleum, Av. Atlantica, 1130 – Copacabana – Rio de Janeiro 22021 – Brazil

In most areas of the deep and ultra deep waters from the Brazilian South Margin Basins, exploration has just begun with the discovery, in the last two years, of six of the biggest oil fields found in the whole world. The oil fields encompassing more than 20 billion bbls of oils of reserves are the Tupi, Jupiter, Guará, Iará, Carioca, and Parati.

The discoveries of low sulfur, pre-salt, lacustrine origin light oil (31o to 37o API), occurred in carbonate reservoirs called stromatolites and coquinas that extends for more than 1000 km from Santos to Espirito Santo Basins. The petrophysics of such reservoirs are unique and made possible to preserve permoporosity in a very deep conditions (over 5,000 meters).

The 3D petroleum system simulation based on a very detailed mapping using a 20,000 Km2 PSDM seismic data provided by CGGVeritas and also on much geological and geochemical information extracted from HRT’s BrazilGeodata library allowed the assessment of the interplay among source, reservoirs, seals and trap geometries, thermal evolution of source rocks, hydrocarbon types, charge, timing of migration, accumulation and preservation and oil quality, and a volumetric quantitation of the accumulated reservoirs.

The main results indicate the presence of an overcharged Lower Cretaceous, lacustrine saline, source rock system in the main depocenters of the Santos, Campos and Espírito Santo Basins. Also, normal pressure and temperature values occur, below salt, in the main carbonate reservoirs from the Upper Lagoa Feia formation in the deepest part of the Basin and were critical in preserving the oil prone nature of the whole hydrocarbon supergiant province.

The charge and accumulation simulation model, only for the pre-salt province, suggest a potential reserve, in the Cluster area of the Santos Basin, much larger than reported, getting numbers close to 40 Billion bbls of oil reserves.

The main exploration and production risk, however, lies in the nature and petrophysical characteristics of the reservoir rocks, composed by stromatolites, coquinas and volcanoclastics that occurs alternating themselves and sum more than 400 m in thickness and extend for more than 1500 km, from Southern Santos up to Northern Espírito Santo Basin, presenting porosities ranging from 8% to 20% and permeability ranging from 20MD to 500MD.

The supergiant accumulations of light oil and condensates are trapped below a salt layer, ranging from 1000m to 2000m, which acted as the BEST preservation element possible in a petroleum system; seal, cushion and temperature drainer.