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Puckett, T.M., Bearden, B.L., Mancini, E.A. and Panetta, B.J., 2000, Topical Report 3, Petroleum plays and underdeveloped reservoirs in the Mississippi Interior Salt Basin, U.S. Department of Energy Report, 105 p.
Abstract
The Mississippi Interior Salt Basin is the most oil and gas productive sedimentary basin in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico region and ranks as one of the more important provinces in North America for oil and gas accumulations. Recently, the Center for Sedimentary Basin Studies at The University of Alabama undertook a study to delineate the petroleum plays in the Mississippi Interior Salt Basin to increase the amount of information available on domestic sedimentary basins through a comprehensive analysis of this important basin. Delineation of petroleum plays and systems is considered vital to full development of the remaining resources in this maturing petroleum province. This report presents the results of play and underdeveloped reservoir characterization in the Mississippi Interior Salt Basin. Three major petroleum plays in and along the margins of the Mississippi Interior Salt Basin have been identified in this study. These include: (1) the Mississippi Interior Salt Basin anticline play in the basin proper; (2) the regional peripheral fault trend/Mobile Graben play along the northern and eastern margins of the basin and approximately the updip limit of salt deposition; and (3) the basement ridge/Wiggins Arch play defining the northern and southern margins of the salt basin.
Three types of petroleum reservoirs have been delineated within these major plays: regional reservoirs, local reservoirs, and potential reservoirs. Regional reservoirs are those with broad areal extent. Local reservoirs have limited areal extent. Potential reservoirs contain stratigraphic intervals that are unproductive to date in the basin proper.
The key to the continued successful exploration in the Mississippi Interior Salt Basin will be delineation of petroleum traps associated with salt movement and recognition of favorable lithofacies through sequence stratigraphic analysis. Traps in the basin are also related to faulting, unconformities and updip loss of permeability. The most prospective stratigraphic sections for continued exploration are the Cretaceous intervals. Flank drilling of salt structures represents an underutilized technique in the basin with considerable implications for future exploration efforts and regional potential that could add significant new reserves to the basin region. The success of recent exploration efforts targeting the flanks of salt features underscores the importance of continued studies of underdeveloped reservoirs in mature petroleum provinces such as the Mississippi Interior Salt Basin.
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