Discovery of Cano Limon field, Llanos basin, Colombia
After 40 years of sporadic exploration that yielded negative or marginal results, the Llanos basin of eastern Colombia was thrust to the forefront of world attention by the discovery of the supergiant Cano Limon field in July 1983. This discovery culminated an intensive 3-year exploration effort by Occidental involving 4000 km of dynamite seismic, 20 stratigraphic tests from 1300 to 3500 ft deep, and 13 exploratory wells. Cost prior to discovery was $45 million. The Llanos is an oily basin with abundant excellent reservoir sands. The problem has been to define traps. The basin deep lies along the foot of the eastern Cordillera, from which a sediment thickness of 30,000 ft thins gradually to the east on a homoclinal flank terminating at the Guyana shield. Except for the very young folding along the Andean front, structural traps are generally sparse and subtle. An exception is the Cano Limon area, which is dominated by major early Tertiary northeast-southwest strike-slip faulting. Concurrent folding and fault sealing formed Cano Limon and other smaller fields. The Cano Limon field with its other half, the Guafita field in Venezuela, contains an estimated initial potential of 3160 million bbl of oil, of which about 1460 million bbl is expected to be recovered. The bulk of the oil is in deltaic sands of the Eocene Mirador with additional reservoirs in the Upper Cretaceous and the Oligocene Carbonera Formation.
- Research Organization:
- Occidental International Exploration and Production Co., Bakersfield, CA (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 5953622
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-880301-
- Journal Information:
- AAPG (Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol.) Bull.; (United States), Journal Name: AAPG (Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol.) Bull.; (United States) Vol. 72:2; ISSN AABUD
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
The giant Cano Limon field, Llanos basin, Colombia
Cano Limon - new giant oil field in Colombia
Related Subjects
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
CENOZOIC ERA
COLOMBIA
EXPLORATION
EXPLORATORY WELLS
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGIC TRAPS
GEOLOGY
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
LATIN AMERICA
MINERAL RESOURCES
OIL FIELDS
OIL WELLS
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESERVOIR ROCK
RESOURCES
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
SEISMIC SURVEYS
SOUTH AMERICA
STRATIGRAPHY
SURVEYS
TERTIARY PERIOD
WELLS