El Furrial oil field, Northeastern Venezuela: First giant in foreland fold and thrust belts of Western Hemisphere

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

OSTI ID:6639189

The El Furrial giant oil field lies on the northern flank of the prolific Eastern Venezuela basin. Major tectonic elements of the region consist of a fold and thrust belt and a deep foreland basin, whose deformation is a product of right-oblique arc-continent collision. This mountain-front oil province displays parallel bands of thrusts and associated folds that extend over 150 mi and have relay trend patterns. The El Furrial structure is a long, doubly plunging anticline, flanked by imbricated, blind thrusts. Seismic data indicate vertical closure of about 3,000 ft over an area of 17,300 ac. The prospective section, of middle Tertiary to Late Cretaceous age, is mainly clastic, with an oil column of 1,800 ft. The interval of greater hydrocarbon potential is equated with shallow marine platform sandstones. Production tests reach sustained daily flow rates exceeding 9,500 bbl of 28/sup 0/API oil and 9,100 mcf of gas. Analysis of the oil suggests a marine Cretaceous source. Although in an early stage of development, the field is estimated to contain approximately 2 billion bbl of recoverable oil reserves. This places El Furrial in the forefront of the giant oil fields in the foreland fold and thrust belt provinces of the Western Hemisphere, second only to the supergiant accumulations of the Zagros zone in the Persian Gulf. The eastern Venezuela basin probably contains on the order of 2 trillion bbl of oil in place, making it the largest oil-bearing basin in the world. An ultimate recovery of 500 billion bbl is estimated. Therefore, the basin offers significant geologic scope for exploration for other giant fields.

• OSTI ID: 6639189
• 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
03 NATURAL GAS
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
TECTONICS
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
VENEZUELA
ANTICLINES
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
EXPLORATION
GEOPHYSICS
GROUND UPLIFT
RESOURCE POTENTIAL
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
SEISMIC SURVEYS
TERTIARY PERIOD
CENOZOIC ERA
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
LATIN AMERICA
MESOZOIC ERA
MINERAL RESOURCES
RESOURCES
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SOUTH AMERICA
SURVEYS
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
030200 - Natural Gas- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration