Offshore Beaufort-Mackenzie basin and Amauligak oil discovery

Conference · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:5955081

Sharpe, R J; Gurba, G J; Sleumer, B H.G.

A variety of complex structural styles and depositional environments host hydrocarbon accumulations in the offshore Beaufort-Mackenzie basin. At present, only one of these, the Amauligak field, appears large enough to serve as a lead project to spur commercial development of the area. All offshore Beaufort discoveries to date occur in sandstones ranging from Paleocene to Oligocene in age. All occur in deltaic or delta-derived sediments ranging from delta-plain deposits to submarine fan/turbidites. In the western Beaufort, sediments are deformed into a series of linear diapiric features interpreted to be thrusted anticlines, possible associated with strike-slip faulting. Similarly, the Tarsiut area immediately to the east is dominated by diapiric anticlines crosscut by a major east-west-trending fault, also possibly a strike-slip fault. In contrast, the central and eastern portions of the offshore Beaufort, where Amauligak is located, are characterized by growth faulting in the sand-rich Oligocene depocenter. To the north, in a basinward direction, unfaulted diapiric anticlines are draped by submarine fans. These structures may in part be related to the gravitational faults to the south. The Amauligak field is located in the growth fault province. It is contained with a large, south-dipping, simple fault-bounded structure in which hydrocarbons are trapped against the north-bounding listric fault. Sediments penetrated at Amauligak include more than 1,500 m of interbedded Oligocene sandstones and shales, the sandstones representing primarily delta-front deposits. Distinctive shale markers are the probable result of the switching of major deltaic lobes.

• OSTI ID: 5955081
• Report Number(s): CONF-880301-
• Resource Relation: Conference: Annual meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Houston, TX, USA, 20 Mar 1988
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
BEAUFORT SEA
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESOURCE POTENTIAL
ANTICLINES
DEPOSITION
EXPLORATION
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC TRAPS
GEOPHYSICS
PERMEABILITY
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
POROSITY
RESERVOIR ROCK
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
SEDIMENTS
TERTIARY PERIOD
ARCTIC OCEAN
CENOZOIC ERA
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
MINERAL RESOURCES
RESOURCES
ROCKS
SEAS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SURFACE WATERS
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration