23rd Annual GCSSEPM Foundation Bob F. Perkins
Research Conference

SHELF MARGIN DELTAS AND LINKED
DOWN SLOPE PETROLEUM SYSTEMS:

Global Significance and Future Exploration Potential

Adams Mark Hotel, December 7-10, 2003
Houston, Texas

Program and Abstracts (pdf - 1.8 mb)

Throughout the exploration and production history of many of the world's mature petroleum provinces, shelf margin delta deposystems have been excellent hydrocarbon reservoirs. In the Gulf of Mexico, major hydrocarbon producing trends have been identified as shelf margin delta reservoir systems connected updip to entrenched alluvial valleys and downdip to deep-water fans. These producing trends were originally delineated from 2-D seismic data, well logs, microfossil assemblages and conventional cores. More recently, widespread use of 3-D seismic, borehole imaging technologies, and sequence stratigraphic models, emphasizes the significance of shelf margin deltas as reservoirs and as sediment feeder systems for reservoir facies in deep water. In a new century that will require geoscientists to meet a steadily increasing energy demand, it is time to reevaluate the future exploration potential of shelf margin deltas and their links to productive reservoir systems in downdip deep-water settings.

The 2003 GCSSEPM Foundation Bob F. Perkins Research Conference will bring together specialists from industry and academic research institutions around the world to share information and insight into deposition, fault and salt-induced structuring, and importantly, hydrocarbon migration in the shelf-to-basin transition zone. As exploration challenges become greater, exciting new reservoir and hydrocarbon migration models are being developed from high-resolution stratigraphic and sedimentologic studies of Quaternary systems. Depositional responses to eustatic sea level and climate are being deciphered. Exciting new sequence stratigraphic models, seismic imaging and production technologies are being applied to shelf margin and slope reservoirs in a wide range of sedimentary basin types in diverse systems around the world.

Poster and oral presentations and accompanying papers will be presented in six topical areas related to exploration and production of shelf margin deltas and genetically related slope and basin deep-water systems: (1) Quaternary shelf-edge delta studies and models; (2) hydrocarbon exploration and development case histories of expanded shelf margin reservoir complexes; (3) studies of shelf-to-slope transition zones from the perspective of reservoirs and basin-to-shelf-margin hydrocarbon migration; (4) reservoir development in salt-deformed and growth-fault-expanded slope section; (5) petroleum systems that charge shelf margin and associated downdip reservoirs; (6) application of new tools and technologies to shelf-margin-to-basin systems; and (6) shelf margin tectonics and sediment-salt interaction at the rapidly accreting and expanding shelf edge. Presentations of examples from petroleum-producing basins outside of the Gulf of Mexico are especially solicited and will provide information on basin framework geology and tectonic setting to illuminate regional contrasts related to differences in climate, oceanography, and detrital provenance.

Each author of an accepted paper will be required to submit a manuscript with a minimum of two published pages including illustrations, and to prepare a poster display. Authors of selected papers will also be asked to make an oral presentation at one of the morning or afternoon sessions. Publication will be on CD-ROM, allowing the reproduction of large colored images.

SESSION TOPICS

QUATERNARY EXAMPLES AND MODELS

Many of the fundamental questions about shelf margin deltas and their associated down-slope deposits can best be answered by studying examples that are a part of the modern seafloor or are in the very shallow subsurface where they can be imaged with high resolution seismic and easily cored. Since details of stratigraphic architecture of these systems may be below the scale of conventional exploration seismic, we can learn important facts about development scale variability by careful study of Quaternary examples. This approach is important for developing concepts that will help optimize reservoir management. Detailed conceptual models of shelf margin deltas and linked slope fan systems can be presented in this session, including: (1) timing of important depositional events; (2) dip section vs. strike section variability in depositional systems; and (3) the linkage of sea level and climate to depositional response. Emphasis should be directed toward lessons learned from Quaternary examples that can be used in the subsurface.

SUBSURFACE CASE HISTORIES

A wealth of exploration and production insight is available through well-documented case histories of fields in shelf margin delta and linked deep water fan deposits from diverse trends, e.g., offshore Niger, (West Africa); Frio, Vicksburg, Yegua, upper Wilcox, and offshore Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene systems, (Gulf of Mexico); Powder River Basin, (Wyoming); Mahakam Delta, (Indonesia); North Sea, (Europe); Sacramento and San Joaquin basins, (California); and others. Case histories are requested from these and other basins that are currently at the forefront of worldwide exploration. Authors are encouraged to include aspects of reservoir geometries, heterogeneities, and production statistics.

THE SHELF-TO-SLOPE TRANSITION ZONE

Sediment transport processes introduce shelf margin delta sands to deep-water depositional sites. These processes range from small sediment gravity flows to catastrophic slope failures. Examples, from the Gulf of Mexico have shown that reservoir quality sediments can be trapped on the slope or by-passed to the basin floor. Contributions are encouraged that illustrate direct linkage with a shelf margin delta sediment source. Insight regarding relative timing of delta-building and associated deep-water reservoir development within a cycle of sea level change is encouraged. Presentations should focus on the exploration implications of these related events.

SHELF MARGIN TECTONICS AND SEDIMENTATION

Growth faulting and salt tectonics are critical elements in the equation that leads to hydrocarbon production in many of the world's sedimentary basins. Delta-building at the shelf edge in the presence of growth faulting can produce thick, stacked reservoir systems that are often prolific sources of oil and gas. At the same time, rapid sedimentation at the shelf edge, in salt provinces like the Gulf of Mexico results in post-depositional salt deformation that affects reservoir architecture and hydrocarbon migration pathways. Presentations relating shelf margin tectonics to hydrocarbon trapping mechanisms, and reservoir compartmentalization in a shelf-edge delta depositional environment are requested. Examples from basins worldwide are encouraged.

PETROLEUM SYSTEMS

In many of the world's sedimentary basins enough data have been collected to define petroleum systems that charge shelf margin deltas and their linked downslope depositional systems with oil and gas. Presentations are requested for data-rich areas such as the Gulf of Mexico, Nigeria, Indonesia, and other areas where petroleum systems can be defined and described. Presentations relating shelf margin tectonics to hydrocarbon maturation and migration are requested. Examples from basins around the world are encouraged.

NEW TOOLS FOR EXPLORATION AND EXPLOITATION

Acquisition of 3D-seismic volumes and associated attribute analysis has produced an unparalleled view of the subsurface. Coupled with new generation logging tools, and greater understanding of microfossil microhabitats, reservoirs and accompanying seals can be characterized as never before. Application of these new tools to deltaic deposits at the shelf edge and linked down-slope deposition can help provide new insight into reservoir geometries, compartmentalization, and hydrocarbon migration pathways. Examples of advanced geophysical, petrophysical, geochemical, petrological, and micropaleontological approaches comprising the most significant technological advances impacting exploration and exploitation are eagerly solicited.

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