Oil Poeaibilities of Colombia
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OIL POSSIBILITIES OF COLOMBIA 1023 Oil Possibilities of Colombia By CHESTER W. WASHBURNE AND K. D. WHITE, NEW YORK, N. Y. Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/TRANS/article-pdf/68/01/1023/2177058/spe-923023-g.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 (New York Meeting, February, 1922) COLOMBIA has an almost ideal situation with respect to the world's markets, being only a short distance from the Panama Canal and the West Indies. The sailing distance from its Caribbean ports to New York is less than that from Tampico. Geographically, Colombia consists of three systems of broad mountain ranges separated by two long narrow valleys. The Cauca River valley separates the Western or Coastal range from the Central range. On the west side of the Coastal range are the Atrato and San Juan Rivers. The Central and Eastern ranges are separated by the Magdalena River valley. In the department of Santander the Eastern range divides, one branch continuing northward as the Cordillera of Perij a, the other turning eastward across Venezuela as the Cordillera of Merida. Between these ranges is the great basin occupied by Lake Maracaibo. These valleys consist mainly of long narrow reentrants or tongues of Tertiary sediments between the older rocks of the mountain ranges. The late Miocene and younger sediments seem to have been deposited in separated basins, but the Cretaceous and possibly some earlier Tertiary strata were laid down more or less continuously over a great part of Colombia and Venezuela. These strata were subsequently folded into the present ranges. The deposition of the Cretaceous and of some of the Tertiary was in a .great sea, the main land mass being in Brazil, with land probably along some of the cores of the present mountain systems. The sediments, except the Lower Cretaceous, vary markedly in character and thickness. An illustration is seen in the massive series of non-marine conglomerates and sandstones of the upper Magdalena River valley, near Honda, which are almost wholly wanting in the coastal sections where marine sediments prevail. The oldest rocks bearing on the search for oil are the black carbonace ous and bituminous shales, limestones, and cherts of the upper part of the Lower Cretaceous. These probably are the main source of oil in both Colombia and Venezuela. They include thick bodies of true "oil shale." Above the carbonaceous and bituminous beds, lies a series of many thousand feet of clastic sediments. The most noticeable and easily recognizable formation among these clastic sediments is the "coal bearing series," which may be either upper Cretaceous or Eocene. The 1024 OIL POSSIBIL11'IES OF COLOMBIA 78' Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/TRANS/article-pdf/68/01/1023/2177058/spe-923023-g.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 ,.' " FIG, 1. CHESTER W. WASHBURNE AND K. D. WHITE 1025 horizons that have been proved to be petroleum producers in Colombia occur in this series and in the next overlying formation. The several stratigraphic sections available for Colombia are platted in Fig. 2, with tentative correlation lines drawn between formations which are thought to be nearly contemporaneous. Special thanks are due A. Faison Dixon for his aid in the correlations. For comparison, Colombia may be roughly subdivided into the following areas or districts: 1. The Santa Marta area and the Goajira peninsula. Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/TRANS/article-pdf/68/01/1023/2177058/spe-923023-g.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 2. The Sinu River valley. 3. The Cartegena-BarranquilIa coastal region. 4. The lower Magdalena River valley. 5. The upper Magdalena River valley. 6. The Amazon River drainage, including the Meta River basin. 7. The Colombian-Venezuelan boundary region. S. The Pacific coastal plain. 9. The Atrato River valley. SINU RIVER VALLEY The sediments of this valley are of Miocene and Pliocene age, in large part marine. They have been sharply folded and in some localities have been faulted. Sharp antielines with limbs dipping 45° or more near the crest are the rule. Elfred Beck1 describes several structures which he located east and north of the Sinu River, the most important being the Sincelejo anticline, which he traced for more than 50 mi. (SO km.) a little east of north. The eastern flank of the anticline dips from 5° to 30° while the western limb dips at 45°. In Beck's cross-section the folding becomes sharper westward and considerable faulting is shown. West of the Sinu River, between Monteria and the sea, three anticlines have been recognized and each traced about.1O mi. (16 km.). The two more eastern folds are separated by a syncline about 10 mi. wide between anticlinal axes. The anticlines are closely folded, the limbs towards the synclines having an average dip of about 45° for a mile from their crests. The other limbs are nearly vertical. The petroleum evidences on both anticlines are similar; large mud volcanoes and seepages of dark green oils come from their steeply dipping crests. The anticlines, the crests of which are in Miocene rocks, expose 7000 or SOOO ft. (2134 to 243S m.) of strata. The third anticline is situated on the sea coast, probably in Pliocene rocks. It also shows oil seepages. The petroleum evidence of this district consists of seepages of heavy I Elfred Beck: Geology and Oil Resources of Colombia. Economic Geology (Nov., 1919). VOL. LXVIII.-65 1026 OIL POSSIBILITIES OF COLOMBIA HOI>'OA OI.5TRICT CA/i'leBCA!f COA57i1L TERTlA7?Y 5[[TllYi-~ .5CCTlOI'I 1'I0000THCIi'I'I COL0I1814 8y,LrKCO 81:'1( .~ HOYTS.6,fLE I f;: PJ..IOCEN£ ~50oW"d. ::::. Con;!()I1fmd.. ,J oliO .~'~ ~#I1ilJlonn. I ~it Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/TRANS/article-pdf/68/01/1023/2177058/spe-923023-g.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 CACIiIRA RIVER XCTIOf" fIG. 2.-C01!.RELATED STRATIGRAPHIC SECTIONS OF COLOMBIA. CHES'l'ER W. WASHBURNE AND K. D. WHITE 1027 tarry oils, dark green oils, gas springs, and mud volcanoes. The authors believe that mud volcanoes have little significance. Practically all oil and gas seepages are located either in the fractured core of closely folded anticlines or along fault planes. Four wells have been drilled in the Sinu River valley and another is now being drilled by the South American Gulf Oil Co., at San Andres. The first well was drilled by a Dutch company in 1910 to 1912, near San Sebastian, east of the Sinu River. It reached a depth of about 400 ft. Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/TRANS/article-pdf/68/01/1023/2177058/spe-923023-g.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 (122 m.) and encountered a dark green oil of about 36 0 Be. gravity. It was reported to have been a 50-bbI. well. In 1915 it was badly mudded and would pump only a few barrels. The Gulf Oil Company's well is said to be located on good structure. In 1915 and 1916 The Standard Oil Co. of New York, drilled three wells to depths of about 2000 ft. (610 m.) The wells were located, respectively, 4 mi. (6.4 km.) east, 8 mi. northeast, and 12 mi. northwest of Lorica. These wells are all reported to have struck small shows of oil and gas, but nothing has been definitely proved by them. All except the shallow well were drilled quite far down the flank of the structures on which they were located. The entire region contains thick deposits of Tertiary sandstone and shale which are closely folded and much faulted. Any structure in this district deserves testing where the equivalent of the" coal-bearing" series of the Magdalena River valley, or strata close above it, may be reached by the drill, where the rocks are not too badly shattered, and where the drainage area is not too limited. With the thick shale section of the later Tertiary and with the presence of numerous petroleum seepages, well-developed folds in the Miocene and Pliocene rocks are also worthy of test, but it should be recognized that no oil horizons have been proved in these strata and that drilling to upper Tertiary horizons is much more speculative than drilling to lower Tertiary and Upper Cretaceous horizons. CARTEGENA-BARRANQUILLA COASTAL REGION This area roughly embraces the region between the Caribbean sea coast, the Magdalena River, and the Cartegena-Calmar railroad. In this territory about as many wells have been drilled as in all the rest of Colombia. About 6 mi. (10 kIll.) southwest of Puerto Colombia, at the village of Perdices, seven wells had been drilled up to the beginning of 1918, all within 1000 ft. (305 m.) of each other. An eighth well is located some 3 mi. east of this locality. According to Alfred Beck, the drilling was commenced by a Canadian company in 1907, and was continued in 1912 or 1913 by the Kelly Oil Co. Of these eight wells, the deepest, No.6, Perdices, was drilled to 3030 ft. (923 m.). This well encountered showings of oil and gas at 1028 OIL POSSIBILITIES OF COLOMBIA various horizons, and at 2443 to 2446 ft. (745m.) in a sandstone, 3,000,000 cu. ft. (85,000 cu. m.) of gas was reported. Well No.1, Perdices, had the best showing; salt water and oil, with a gravity of 32° Be., were reported at 135 ft. (41 m.), while in a broken sand and shale formation at 745- 754 ft. (230 m.), oil of 43.4° Be., which flowed naturally and on the pump made 140 bbl. in 7 hr., was reported. In 1917 the well was badly mudded but pumped about Y2 bbl.