Teak-testing a subsalt hydrocarbon trap geometry, South Timbalier Block 260, Gulf of Mexico
- Phillips Petroleum Co., Houston, TX (United States)
The Phillips Petroleum South Timbalier South Addition 260 No. 1 well, Teak prospect, tested a subsalt closure covering parts of three offshore blocks. The structure was formed by the truncation of southeast dipping strata on the north and west by salt welds. These welds, are collapsed salt feeder systems that were the conduits for emplacement of the salt sheet overlying the Teak prospect. The well encountered eight hydrocarbon shows over 5,000 of subsalt section in predominantly thin-bedded turbidite sandstones. Pay intervals are confined to a zone directly below the salt and deeper in the section below an unconformity surface. Salt welds proved to be sealing surfaces, but other parameters also influenced the vertical distribution of hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbons trapped directly below the salt are within a tectonically disturbed zone where reservoirs probably have limited lateral continuity. The deeper unconformity trap is interpreted as an older subhorizontal salt weld below the present-day salt sheet because of missing stratigraphic section and the presence of a condensed section above it. A tectonic model for the area indicates three phases of salt movement. The first phase was a near-vertical emplacement of a really-restricted, wedge-shaped salt massifs downslope to large, stepped, counter-regional faulting. This phase was followed by rapid deflation of the massifs and lateral spreading of the salt due to sediment loading. This emplaced the salt over Teak and formed the bounding weld surfaces. Finally, a period of thin-skinned extension remobilized the salt sheets into secondary piercements and formed sub-horizontal welds extending away from the present Teak salt sheet.
- OSTI ID:
- 6593938
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960527-; CODEN: AABUD2
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin, Vol. 5; Conference: Annual convention of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Inc. and the Society for Sedimentary Geology: global exploration and geotechnology, San Diego, CA (United States), 19-22 May 1996; ISSN 0149-1423
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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An emplacement model for allochthonous salt sheets with implications toward subsalt exploration
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