Mesozoic Remaining Potential in the Southeast Basins of Mexico

M. Milland Padrón¹, J. Ruiz Morales¹, and M. Terán García²
¹Pemex Exploración y Producción, Activo de Exploración Plataforma Continental Sur, Calle 33 # 90, Cd. Del Carmen, Camp. CP 24180, Mexico
²Pemex Exploración y Producción, Activo de Exploración Golfo de México Norte, Edificio Administrativo. 4° piso, Poza Rica, Ver. CP 93370, Mexico

The Southeast Basins are located in the Coastal Plain and the Continental Shelf of southeastern Mexico, including portions onshore and offshore, in the states of Veracruz, Tabasco, and Campeche.

In 1972, the Sitio Grande and Cactus wells were drilled and they were the first oil and gas discoveries with a Mesozoic target in this basin. Exploration offshore started in 1974 with the drilling of the Chac-1 well, which produced oil from the Cretaceous Breccias. These important successful events fostered the strategy of geophysical surveying and the search of new targets by deepening wells that resulted in discovery of important fields that brought about the exploitation of these new provinces in the following five years.

With the discovery and development of the Cantarell Complex, the production in the Mesozoic in the Southeast Basins became the most important one for the country, reaching its historical peak of more than 4 million barrels of crude oil equivalent per day in 2004.

Cumulative production from the Mesozoic in the Southeast Basins up to January 2011 is of 35+ billion barrels of crude oil equivalent. Remaining reserves are estimated at 21 billion barrels of crude oil equivalent. The producing plays are the Upper Cretaceous breccias, Lower Cretaceous fractured limestones, Kimmeridgian oolitic banks and dolomites, and Oxfordian sands.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90158©2012 GCAGS and GC-SEPM 6nd Annual Convention, Austin, Texas, 21-24 October 2012