Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Escalona & Mann. 2006a. AAPG v.90. An Overview of Petroleum System of Maracaibo Basin.
Escalona & Mann. 2006a. AAPG v.90. An Overview of Petroleum System of Maracaibo Basin.
Escalona & Mann. 2006a. AAPG v.90. An Overview of Petroleum System of Maracaibo Basin.
ABSTRACT
The geologically complex Maracaibo Basin in northwestern Venezuela is one of the most prolific hydrocarbon basins in the world.
Having a basinal area of 50,000 km2 (19,300 mi2), the basin has
produced more than 30 billion bbl of oil, with estimated recoverable oil reserves of more than 44 billion bbl. The central
elements of the petroleum system of the basin include (1) a worldclass source rock (Upper Cretaceous La Luna Formation), deposited on a shelf-to-slope environment under anoxic conditions and
modified by intermittent oxygenated periods and tectonic events;
(2) high-quality clastic reservoir rocks deposited in Eocene and
Miocene fluviodeltaic settings; (3) two main periods of rapid tectonic subsidence responsible for two pulses of voluminous hydrocarbon generation, first, during Paleogene CaribbeanSouth American oblique plate collision and, second, during the Neogene uplift
of the Sierra de Perija Merida Andes; and (4) lateral and vertical
migration of oil along strike-slip, normal, and inverted faults, as
well as a regional unconformity of late Eocene Oligocene age.
The maturation, migration, and trapping of hydrocarbons were
closely controlled by the tectonic evolution of the Maracaibo Basin.
During the Paleogene, the development of a foredeep along the
northeastern margin of the basin and the strike-slip reactivation of
the rift-related Jurassic faults on the Maracaibo platform controlled
the early structural setting of the source and reservoir rocks. Hydrocarbons migrated updip from source rocks beneath the northnortheastern margin of the basin along north-south strike-slip faults
and into overlying Eocene clastic reservoirs in the south-central parts
of the basin. The second period of the Maracaibo Basin petroleum
system developed during subaerial exposure of most of the Maracaibo Basin during Oligocene Miocene uplift of the adjacent Sierra
de Perija and Merida Andes. Uplift of mountain ranges surrounding the basin folded and depressed the interior of the basin to form
the extensive Maracaibo syncline. Because of the formation of the
Maracaibo syncline, oil generation began in the central and southern
parts of the synclinal basin and migrated northward. Hydrocarbons
migrated up the flanks of the Maracaibo syncline along reactivated
AUTHORS
Alejandro Escalona Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, 4412 Spicewood
Springs Road, Building 600, Austin, Texas,
78759; escalona@utig.ig.utexas.edu
Alejandro Escalona is a postdoctoral researcher
at the Institute for Geophysics, University of
Texas at Austin. He received his Ph.D. in geology at the University of Texas at Austin in
2003, where he focused on the stratigraphic
and structural evolution of the Maracaibo Basin,
Venezuela. He is currently interpreting regional seismic and well data from offshore
Venezuela to link offshore and on-land Cenozoic
depocenters.
Paul Mann Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas
at Austin, 4412 Spicewood Springs Road,
Building 600, Austin, Texas, 78759;
paulm@utig.ig.utexas.edu
Paul Mann is a senior research scientist at the
Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas
at Austin. He received his Ph.D. in geology at
the State University of New York in 1983 and
has published widely on the tectonics of strikeslip, rift, and collision-related sedimentary basins. His current focus area of research is the
interplay of tectonics, sedimentation, and hydrocarbon occurrence in Venezuela and Trinidad.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank Petroleos de Venezuela, S. A., for
providing seismic and well data used in this
study. This work was supported by Grant
40499-AC8 from the Donors of the Petroleum
Research Fund of the American Chemical
Society to P. Mann. We thank S. Talukdar,
D. Goddard, and R. Erlich for valuable reviews. The authors acknowledge the financial
support for publication costs provided by the
University of Texas at Austins Geology Foundation and the Jackson School of Geosciences.
University of Texas, Institute for Geophysics
Contribution 1775.
Copyright #2006. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.
Editors Note
Manuscript received February 19, 2005; provisional acceptance April 21, 2005; revised manuscript
received September 28, 2005; final acceptance October 14, 2005.
DOI:10.1306/10140505038
657
INTRODUCTION
The Gulf Caribbean region currently contains 5% of
the total ultimate recoverable reserves of hydrocarbons on Earth (Horn, 2003) (Figure 1A). Venezuela
has the largest reserves of hydrocarbons of all the hydrocarbon regions of the western hemisphere, with
proved oil reserves of about 70 billion bbl oil and
proved gas reserves of 147 tcf (Figure 1) (U.S. Geological Survey, 2000; Audemard and Serrano, 2001).
These reserve estimates do not include the immense,
unconventional reserves of the Orinoco heavy oil belt,
with an estimated approximately 1200 billion bbl of
Figure 1. (A) Distribution of ultimate recoverable oil in the world; (B) distribution of recoverable oil in the world; (C) distribution of
giant oil fields; and (D) ultimate oil reserves in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico (MMBOE). All data are from Horn (2003).
658
Figure 2. (A) Topographic-bathymetric map showing six main tectonic belts observed along the northern margin of South America:
1 = Venezuela basin; 2 = Leeward Antilles Aves Ridge; 3 = Grenada-Bonaire-Falcon basins; 4 = Lesser Antilles arc Cordillera de la
Costa; 5 = Tobago-Carupano basins; 6 = Barbados accretionary prism Columbus basin Eastern Venezuela Basin Maracaibo Basin.
(B) Inferred position of the leading edge of the Great arc of the Caribbean at 90 Ma = Late Cretaceous; 60 Ma = Paleocene; 50 Ma =
Eocene; 35 Ma = Oligocene; 15 Ma = Miocene; 0 Ma = Holocene (modified from Lugo and Mann, 1995).
Escalona and Mann
659
Figure 3. Oil fields, oil seeps, and major faults of the Maracaibo Basin. Most oil fields are located along major subsurface strikeslip faults, including the Icotea and Pueblo Viejo faults (map modified from Zambrano et al., 1971; location of oil and gas seeps are
from Link, 1952).
The Maracaibo Basin is located in a triangular intermontane depression bounded by the Merida Andes
and Sierra de Perija (Figure 3). Eocene clastic rocks of
the basin are the most prolific reservoirs for light and
medium oil and account for 50% of the basins reserves (Talukdar and Marcano, 1994). Miocene clastic rock reservoirs include 44% of known reservoirs,
whereas Paleocene, Cretaceous, and basement rocks
GEOLOGIC SETTING
The sedimentary history of the Maracaibo Basin began
during the Late Jurassic, with the deposition of riftrelated rocks (La Quinta Formation) in structural lows
or half grabens controlled by linear, north-northeast
striking normal faults (Maze, 1984; Lugo and Mann,
1995). During the Early Cretaceous Paleocene, a
mixed clastic-carbonate platform developed across
the area of present-day Maracaibo Basin (Figure 1).
Thermal subsidence and tectonic quiescence of the
passive margin led to sediment accumulation and the
absence of deformation of the basin during this period
(Lugo and Mann, 1995). The few structures present in
the Maracaibo Basin during the Cretaceous formed by
tectonic uplift of the Western and Central Cordilleras
of Colombia (Figure 1). This uplift is responsible for an
increase in subsidence by the end of the Cretaceous
that resulted in deposition of thick marine shale of the
Colon Formation during the Maastrichtian (Lugo and
Mann, 1995; Parnaud et al., 1995). During the late
TuronianCampanian, the La Luna Formation was deposited in a shelf-slope setting under anoxic conditions.
The La Luna Formation became the main source rock
of northwestern South America (Renz, 1981; Bralower
and Lorente, 2003).
Late Paleocene and early to middle Eocene oblique
convergence between the Caribbean plate and the
northwestern margin of South America (Figure 2B)
661
PETROLEUM SYSTEMS
Figure 3 shows the distribution of hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Maracaibo Basin (Zambrano et al., 1971).
Most Eocene reservoir rocks are spatially aligned with
the north-southstriking Icotea and Pueblo Viejo faults,
whereas most Miocene reservoirs rocks are clustered
along the eastern and northeastern margin of the presentday Lake Maracaibo (Figure 3). Ninety four percent of
hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Maracaibo Basin are found
within Eocene Miocene clastic rocks (Talukdar and
Marcano, 1994). Only 6% of reservoirs are found within
underlying CretaceousPaleocene carbonate rocks and
basement.
Figure 4 shows an east-west and a north-south
interpreted seismic line in the central Maracaibo Basin, summarizing the main elements of the Maracaibo petroleum system from Cretaceous source
rock to Eocene and Miocene reservoirs. The two interpreted seismic lines show the northeast thickening of the Eocene clastic wedge, the southwest thickening of the Miocene Holocene clastic wedge, and
the main structural and stratigraphic controls of the
basin inherited from the north-northeaststriking fault
family.
Source Rocks
Hydrocarbon source rocks in the Maracaibo Basin are
Upper Cretaceous marine carbonate rocks (calcareous shales and argillaceous limestones) that make up
the La Luna Formation of Cenomanian Campanian
age. Previous geochemical studies show that the La
Luna Formation is the source of 98% of the total
oil reserves found in the Maracaibo Basin (Zambrano
et al., 1971; Young et al., 1977; Renz, 1981; Talukdar
and Marcano, 1994). An additional 2% of the total oil
reserve was derived from nonmarine coals and shales
of the Paleocene Orocue Formation that are found in
the southwestern part of the basin (Talukdar and
Marcano, 1994; Yurewicz et al.1998). Gonzalez de
Juana et al. (1980) proposed that Eocene and Miocene terrestrial source rocks, now deeply buried in
the southern part of the basin, may act as additional
source rock to the La Luna Formation. Geochemical
analysis of Tertiary sedimentary rocks indicates no
significant hydrocarbon potential for Eocene and Miocene shale, nor is there any evidence for oils correlated to this type of source rocks (Talukdar and Marcano, 1994; Tocco and Margarita, 1999).
662
663
Figure 4. (A) Interpreted east-west seismic line in the Maracaibo Basin. The section shows the main structural and stratigraphic features of the Maracaibo Basin and its petroleum
systems (see Figure 3 for location). Migration paths from source to reservoir are localized along major faults in the basin (e.g., Icotea fault, Pueblo Viejo, and A, B, and E faults).
Hydrocarbon reservoirs are concentrated in structural highs beneath the Eocene unconformity and in the Miocene along the north and eastern flanks of the Maracaibo syncline.
(B) Interpreted north-south seismic line in the Maracaibo Basin (see Figure 3 for location). Hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Miocene are concentrated in the updip part of the Miocene
clastic wedge. Eocene turbidites provide good exploration targets north of the Burro Negro fault.
664
Figure 5. (A) Regional-stratigraphic chart of the Albian to Maastrichtian stages in four different areas of the Maracaibo Basin (I to
IV) (modified from Erlich et al., 1999a; Castillo, 2001). (B) Location map showing locations I to IV of the stratigraphic chart and the
total thickness in meters of the La Luna Formation from well logs (modified from Lugo and Mann, 1995). (C) Gamma-ray log of a
well in the south Lake Maracaibo area showing a typical response from Albian to Maastrichtian (modified from Castillo, 2001).
Escalona and Mann
665
Figure 6. Paleogeographic maps from Albian to Campanian (modified from Erlich et al., 1999a).
The Cenomanian to Turonian period represents a mixed carbonate-clastic platform in the Maracaibo Basin areas. The middle to outer shelf depositional environment characterized the central
Maracaibo Basin from the Albian to Campanian.
666
667
Figure 7. Distribution in percentages of hydrocarbon generated by La Luna Formation source rocks in the Maracaibo Basin based
on calculations by Horn (2002). Total organic carbon (TOC) values were taken from the following sources: Llanos et al. (2000), Erlich
et al. (1999b), Yurewicz et al. (1998), and Gallango et al. (2002). Distribution of oil seeps from Cretaceous and Paleocene source
rocks is taken from Link (1952).
668
Reservoir Rocks
Reservoir rocks in the Maracaibo Basin are found
throughout the stratigraphic section and range from
fractured basement metamorphic rocks to shallow, unconsolidated, Miocene rocks. Structural traps are controlled by a variety of features, including normal faults,
inverted faults on the flexed continental plate (Harding
and Tuminas, 1989; Escalona and Mann, 2003b), folds
in the foreland basin, and subsurface strike-slip faults
forming north-south anticlines (Escalona and Mann,
2003b). All trap types were charged with hydrocarbons
from underlying Cretaceous source rocks of the La
Luna Formation (Zambrano et al., 1971; Gonzalez de
Juana et al., 1980; Talukdar and Marcano, 1994; Erlich
et al., 1999a). Stratigraphic traps are found in heterogeneous, mixed fluvial, and tidal-dominated deltaic
systems defining regressive-transgressive cycles on the
Eocene Maracaibo shelf and nearshore to fluvial Miocene sandstone rocks (Guzman and Fisher, 2006).
Major reservoir facies are stacked distributary channels
and tidal bars (Maguregui, 1990; Ambrose et al., 1995;
Escalona, 2003). Hydrocarbon reservoirs can be classified in three main types:
1. Sub-Eocene reservoirs (Figures 9, 10): These reservoirs are located in deeply buried Cretaceous limestone and Paleocene sandstone in central and southern Maracaibo Basin (Figure 9A, D) and in less deeply
buried Cretaceous limestone and basement rocks
in northwestern areas of the basin (Figure 10H).
Reservoirs include fractured rocks (basement and
Cretaceous limestone) associated with the reactivation of north-south strike-slip, northwest-southeast
striking normal faults (Figure 10B, D) and thrusts
(Figure 9A, C) related to the uplift of the Merida
Andes (Castillo and Mann, 2006).
2. Eocene reservoirs (Figures 10, 11): These are the
most prolific reservoir rocks in the Maracaibo Basin.
They are characterized by structural traps associated
with anticlines formed by strike-slip reactivation
of north-northeast striking faults (e.g., Icotea and
Pueblo Viejo faults and their related northwestsoutheast normal faults; Escalona and Mann, 2003b).
Traps also formed in fluvial-deltaic (tide-influenced)
sandstone facies traps truncated by the Eocene unconformity (cf. Figures 10E, H; 11K, L). The most
productive Eocene reservoirs are located in the central and northeastern regions of the Maracaibo Basin.
3. Miocene reservoirs (Figure 11I, L): These form the
second most prolific reservoirs in the Maracaibo
669
670
CONCLUSIONS
The complex interplay of deformation, burial, and
sedimentation in the Maracaibo Basin during the Cretaceous and Tertiary combined to make the basin one
of the most effective and prolific petroleum systems on
Earth. Deposition and distribution of ideal source and
reservoir rocks were stratigraphically and structurally
controlled by multiple tectonic events that led to hydrocarbon generation, migration, and accumulation. The
main conclusions of this review include the following:
1. Geochemical analysis reveals that more than 98% of
the oil accumulation of the Maracaibo Basin was
sourced by the CenomanianCampanian La Luna
Formation. The La Luna Formation was deposited
under anoxic conditions with intermittent tectonic
and depositional events, including reworking by bottom currents, and entry of turbidites and debris flows
into the basin.
2. Three main tectonic phases of deformation are responsible for the multiphase evolution of the petroleum system in the Maracaibo Basin:
Phase 1: Paleogene oblique collision between the
Caribbean and northwestern South America: The
Maracaibo passive margin during the Paleocene
early Eocene created an ideal mechanism for the
rapid burial and maturation of the source rock,
the La Luna Formation in the northeastern area
of the Maracaibo Basin (Figures 7, 8, 12). The
Paleogene foreland basin and a major right-lateral
ramp fault (Burro Negro fault) controlled the initial
generation and migration event of hydrocarbons
Figure 8. Burial histories of wells in the Maracaibo Basin based on data compiled by Horn (2002) from the following sources:
(A) Sanchez (1993), (B) Delgado (1993), (C) Molina (1992), (D) Molina (1993), (E) Ramirez and Marcano (1992), and (F H) Lugo and
Mann (1995). The percentage of hydrocarbon generation using Lopatins (1971) equations for a type II kerogen source rock basin
is based on calculations by Horn (2002) for each well location. Shaded areas represent main periods of tectonic subsidence.
Escalona and Mann
671
672
Figure 9. Examples of four sub-Eocene hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Maracaibo Basin. These reservoirs are located in deeply buried and fractured metamorphic basement rocks
and in Cretaceous and Paleocene sedimentary rocks ( > 5-km [> 3.1-mi] depth). The inset map in the upper right corner (modified from PDVSA pamphlets, 1995 and 1996,
unpublished data) provides the location of the sections.
673
Figure 10. Examples of Eocene hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Maracaibo Basin. Eocene clastic rocks are the most prolific reservoirs in the Maracaibo Basin and are concentrated
mainly in the central and northeastern areas of the basin along north-northeaststriking faults. The inset map in the upper right corner (modified from PDVSA pamphlets, 1995 and
1996, unpublished data) provides the location of the sections.
674
Figure 11. Examples of Miocene Holocene hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Maracaibo Basin. These reservoirs are located mainly in the north and northeastern areas of the
Maracaibo Basin. The most prolific reservoirs are located along the northeastern coastline of the present-day Lake Maracaibo (Bolivar Coast) and along the trace of the Burro Negro
fault zone. The inset map in the upper right corner (modified from PDVSA pamphlets, 1995 and 1996, unpublished data) provides the location of the sections.
675
REFERENCES CITED
Ambrose, W., E. Ferrer, S. Dutton, F. Wang, A. Padron, W.
Carrasquel, J. Yeh, and N. Tyler, 1995, Production optimization of tide-dominated deltaic reservoirs of the lower Misoa
Formation (lower Eocene), LL-652 Area, Lagunillas field, Lake
Maracaibo, Venezuela: University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of
Economic Geology, Austin, Report of Investigations 226, 46 p.
676
Audemard, F. A., J.-C. Bousquet, and J. Rodriguez, 1999, Neotectonic and paleoseismicity studies on the Urumaco fault,
northern Falcon Basin, northwestern Venezuela: Tectonophysics, v. 308, p. 23 35.
Audemard, F. E., 1991, Tectonics of western Venezuela: Ph.D.
dissertation, Rice University, Houston, 245 p.
Audemard, F. E., and I. Serrano, 2001, Future petroliferous
provinces of Venezuela, in M. Downey, J. Threet, and W.
Morgand, eds., Petroleum provinces of the twenty-first
century: AAPG Memoir 74, p. 353 372.
Babb, S., and P. Mann, 1999, Structural and sedimentary development of a Neogene transpressional plate boundary between the
Caribbean and South America plates in Trinidad and the Gulf
of Paria, in P. Mann, ed., Caribbean basins: Sedimentary basins
of the world: Amsterdam, Elsevier Science B. V., v. 4, p. 495
557.
Bockmeulen, H., C. Barker, and P. Dickey, 1983, Geology and
geochemistry of crude oils, Bolivar coastal fields, Venezuela:
AAPG Bulletin, v. 67, p. 242 270.
Boesi, T., and D. Goddard, 1991, A new geological model related to
the distribution of hydrocarbon source rocks in the Falcon
basin, northwestern Venezuela, in K. Biddle, ed., Active margin basins: AAPG Memoir 52, p. 303 319.
Bralower, T., and M. Lorente, 2003, Paleogeography and stratigraphy of the La Luna Formation and related Cretaceous anoxic
depositional systems: Palaios, v. 18, p. 301 304.
Castillo, M., 2001, Structural analysis of Cenozoic fault systems
using 3D seismic data in the southern Maracaibo Basin,
Venezuela: Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas at Austin,
Austin, 189 p.
Castillo, M. V., and P. Mann, 2006, Cretaceous to Holocene structural and stratigraphic development in south Lake Maracaibo,
Venezuela, inferred from well and three-dimensional seismic
data: AAPG Bulletin, v. 90, p. 529 565.
Colmenares, L., and M. Zoback, 2003, Stress field and seismotectonics of northern South America: Geology, v. 31, p. 721 724.
Cortes, M., and J. Angelier, 2005, Current states of stress in the
northern Andes as indicated by focal mechanisms of earthquakes: Tectonophysics, v. 403, p. 59 75.
Delgado, I., 1993, Lama field Venezuela, Maracaibo Basin, Zulia
state, in N. H. Foster and E. A. Beaumont, compilers, Structural traps VIII: AAPG Treatise of Petroleum Geology, Atlas
of Oil and Gas Fields, p. 271 294.
Dewey, J., and J. Pindell, 1986, Neogene block tectonics of eastern
Turkey and northern South America; continental applications
of the finite difference method: Discussion and reply: Tectonics, v. 5, p. 697 705.
Duerto, L., A. Escalona, and P. Mann, 2006, Deep structure of the
Merida Andes and Sierra de Perija mountain fronts, Maracaibo
Basin, Venezuela: AAPG Bulletin, v. 90, p. 505 528.
Erlich, R., D. Pocknall, C. Yeilding, and M. Lorente, 1997, Chronostratigraphy, depositional environments, and reservoir potential of Eocene rocks, southern and central Merida Andes
(Maracaibo and Barinas/Apure basins), western Venezuela, in
K. Shanley and B. Perkins, eds., Shallow marine and nonmarine
reservoirs: Gulf Coast Section SEPM Foundation 18th Annual
Research Conference, Houston, p. 93 106.
Erlich, R., O. Macsotay, A. Nederbragt, and M. Lorente, 1999a,
Palaecology, palaeogeography and depositional environments
of Upper Cretaceous rocks of western Venezuela: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 153, p. 203 238.
Erlich, R., S. Palmer-Koleman, and M. Lorente, 1999b, Geochemical characterization of oceanographic and climatic changes
recorded in upper Albian to lower Maastrichtian strata, Western Venezuela: Cretaceous Research, v. 20, p. 547 581.
Erlich, R., O. Macsotay, A. Nederbragt, and M. Lorente, 2000,
677
678