Using Earth Systems Science
The Cretaceous formations of the South Atlantic play a critical role in hydrocarbon exploration. Many proven plays along the South Atlantic margins occur in Cretaceous petroleum systems and relate to the opening of this ocean. The South Atlantic African and South American conjugate margins remain prime targets for recent hydrocarbon exploration, particularly farther south in search of Cretaceous plays.
In this edition of Subsurface Insights magazine, we use detailed paleo-climate tools within the Neftex® solution from Halliburton to demonstrate how a holistic Earth Systems Science approach applies to exploration to better understand geological risks and identify opportunities. This approach models the evolution through time and space of mechanisms shaping the Earth’s surface.
We apply this Earth Systems approach to highlight potential “sweet spots” in time and space as a guide for exploration. In this instance, we focus on clastic reservoir components of Cretaceous petroleum systems along the southern African margin.
This approach helps demonstrate that the distribution of key geological components, and therefore types of geological risks, differs across the South Atlantic conjugate margins. One margin cannot serve as a direct analog for the other without understanding these Earth System temporal and spatial differences.
