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Geologic Framework, Petroleum Potential, Petroleum Resource Estimates, Environmental Hazards, and Deep-Water Drilling Technology

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Geologic Framework, Petroleum Potential, Petroleum Resource Estimates, Environmental Hazards, and Deep-Water Drilling Technology UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Geologic Framework, Petroleum Potential, Petroleum Resource Estimates, Environmental Hazards, and Deep-water Drilling Technology of the Maritime Boundary Region, Offshore Southern California Borderland Edited By Richard B. Powers Open-File Report 81-264 This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological Survey editorial standards and stratigraphic nomenclature. Any use of trade names is for descriptive purposes only and does not constitute endorsement by the USGS 1981 Contents Page Summary.................................................................. 1 Introduction, by Richard B. Powers....................................... 5 Geologic framework, by John G. Vedder.................................... 7 Petroleum resource potential, by Edward W. Scott, John G. Vedder, and David Griggs....................................................... 25 Estimates of undiscovered in-place petroleum resources, by Richard B. Powers, and Edward W. Scott................................. 39 Other mineral resources, by John G. Vedder............................... 50 Environmental and bottom hazards, by John G. Vedder...................... 54 Technological feasibility of deep-water drilling and production, by Kent Stauffer, Maurice Adams, Richard Habrat, and Dan Bourgeois...................................................... 61 References............................................................... 89 Illustrations Figure 1. Map of offshore Southern California Borderland showing area of study and assessed areas.................................. 2 2. Map showing regional physiographic provinces.................. 8 3. Map of California Continental Borderland showing boundaries of geological terranes I to IV.................................. 9 Illustrations (continued) Page 4. Map showing available data within study area and locations of drill sites outside the area................... 10 5. Map showing ship tracklines north of lat 32° N................ 11 6. Map showing dredge sites and ship tracklines along which bedrock cores were taken north of lat 32° N................. 12 7. Map of structural trends in the borderland south of lat 32°45' N............................................. 14 8. Generalized stratigraphic columns for geologic terranes I through IV................................................ 16 9. Schematic cross section of terranes I through IV.............. 17 10. Map showing relation of study area to terranes I through IV... 19 11. Map of faults in nearshore borderland......................... 23 12. Stratigraphic columns, Santa Barbara Channel region........... 28 13. Stratigraphic columns, outer basins and banks................. 30 14. Stratigraphic columns, inner basins and banks................. 31 15. Isopach map of post-Eocene sediments.......................... 35 16. Petroleum resource classification diagram..................... 43 17. Probability distribution curves, Areas 1 and 2a............... 48 18. Aggregated probability distribution curves, total study area.. 49 19. Map showing locations of known and inferred faults in the coastal zone and borderland of southern California... 55 20. Map showing earthquake epicenters offshore southern California and northern Baja California, Mexico............. 57 21. Diagram of dynamically positioned drill ship.................. 63 ii Illustrations (continued) 22. Diagram of fixed drilling platform............................ 65 23. Diagram of guyed-tower drilling platform...................... 67 24. Diagram of tension-leg drilling platform...................... 68 25. Diagram of semisubmersible production system.................. 70 26. Diagram of subsea atmospheric production system (SAS)......... 71 27. Diagram of subsea production system (SPS)..................... 73 28. Diagram of one-atmosphere chamber production system........... 74 29. Diagram of conventional pipeline lay-barge and stinger system 30. Diagram of inclined-ramp pipeline lay-method.................. 76 31. Diagram of reel-barge pipeline lay-method..................... 78 32. Diagram of bottom-tow pipeline lay-method..................... 80 33. Diagram of rigid or moored single-point moorings (SPM)........ 82 34. Diagrams of manned subsea maintenance systems................. 84 35. Graph showing projection of platform installation capability.. 86 36. Graph showing projection of floating and subsea drilling facilities.................................................. 87 37. Graph showing projection pf pipeline-laying capability........ 88 Table Table 1. Estimates of undiscovered in-place oil and gas resources, Southern California Borderland.............................. 40 111 SUMMARY This report details the findings of a study by the U.S. Geological Survey on the oil and gas potential of a designated assessment area in the offshore Southern California Borderland (fig. 1). Only limited information is publicly available to gain an understanding of the oil and gas resource potential of this region. The principal conclusions from the analysis of these data are: 1. Favorable geological conditions exist for the occurrence of crude oil and natural gas resources in an areally small part of the designated study area; 2. Estimates of undiscovered in-place resources range from 0 to 1.78 billion barrels of oil (BBO) and from 0 to 2.86 trillion cubic feet (TCP) of gas; 3. Exploration and exploitation of these deep-water estimated resources are expected to become feasible in the future. The study area is divided into two numbered geometrical units for assessment purposes (fig. 1). Area 1 is nearer to the mainland; Area 2, farther from shore, has been divided into two parts on the basis of geology and bathymetry. Area 2a is within the California Continental Borderland, and Area 2b is seaward of the 8,200-ft (2,500-m) isobath in the Baja California o Seamount Province. The total study area covers approximately 7,500 mi (19,425 km 2 ) and contains an estimated total sediment volume of 2,347 mi3 (9,785 km^)» Water depths range from a minimum of 295 ft (90 m) at Sixtymile Bank to a maximum of more than 12,000 ft (3,660 m) in the Baja California Seamount Province. li-7,,', ' ' ' "Tft ~****Z*^om v SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA' BORDERLAND OCEAN 10 o 50 Ml Figure l.-Map of offshore Southern California Borderland showing area of study and areas assessed. The study focused on factors critical to the generation, migration, and entrapment of hydrocarbons, such as: structural and stratigraphic traps, source beds and thermal maturation, reservoir rocks and seals, and timing of hydrocarbon migration relative to formation of traps. Petroleum potential of the three assessment areas in the Southern California Borderland was analyzed by using all publicly available geophysical data recorded in the study area, supplemented by a very limited amount of geological data obtained from drilling adjacent to the area of study. Geophysical data on the study area were limited to 230 miles (370 km) of multichannel seismic-reflection profiles and 364 miles (586 km) of single- channel profiles. Geological information was limited to three sea-floor dredge samples within the study area and one stratigraphic test well, which is 38 mi (62 km) northwest of the study area. Much of the understanding of the geology and petroleum potential of the study area was gained by analogy and extrapolation of abundant geophysical and drilling data from the north (north of lat 32° N.) into the study area, rather than from direct evidence. Evaluation of the petroleum potential and estimates of resources are related only to undiscovered in-place crude oil and natural gas, not to recoverable amounts. We do not speculate on what part of the estimated in- place resources in the assessment areas might be ultimately recoverable because not enough is known at present about petroleum-reservoir properties, economics, and the technology needed to develop these deep-water areas. Environmental hazards that may affect drilling, production, and pipeline transportation include faults, seismicity, sediment instability, sediment erosion, and hydrocarbon seeps north of lat 32° N. Although no studies have been done south of lat 32° N. within the study area, potential problems presumably are analogous to those identified farther north. Numerous earthquake epicenters and sea-floor offsets along some of the major fault zones indicate continuing crustal activity, and many other faults that continue upward to the sea floor must be considered environmentally hazardous, as they cut beds of Holocene age. The probability of environmental hazards risk in the assessed areas,. however, cannot be predicted at this time. Exploration and production technology is not presently available to exploit any of the estimated petroleum resources in deep water in the greater part of the Southern California Borderland study area. We expect that by the year 2000, the methods and equipment required for drilling and producing in water as deep as 10,000 ft (3,048 m) will be available. INTRODUCTION By Richard B. Powers During the past 30 or more years, drilling and production of oil and gas in offshore regions of the United States have progressed from very shallow waters to deeper water on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), which extends from the shore to water 656 ft (0 to 200 m) deep. Fields are now being developed in water depths exceeding 1,000 ft (305 m), beyond the shelf edge. Considerable interest and attention have been
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