Geologica Acta, Vol.6, Nº 1, March 2008, 69-83 Available online at www.geologica-acta.com Hydrocarbons and petroleum geology of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina 1 2 2 1 3 1 E.A. ROSSELLO C.E. HARING G. CARDINALI F. SUÁREZ G.A. LAFFITTE and A.V. NEVISTIC 1 CONICET and Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires Pabellón II, Ciudad Universitaria. C1428, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Rossello E-mail:
[email protected] 2 REPSOL-YPF Av. Diagonal Norte 777, C1364, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Haring E-mail:
[email protected] Cardinal E-mail:
[email protected] Suárez E-mail:
[email protected] Nevistic E-mail:
[email protected] 3 M&P System Miró 525. C1406, Buenos Aires, Argentina. E-mail:
[email protected] ABSTRACT The history of the hydrocarbon exploration and present production, as well as a compilation of their main tec- tosedimentary features in the Argentine territory of Tierra del Fuego Island are summarized in this paper. The exploration and production of hydrocarbons in the studied region is mostly restricted to both onshore and off- shore portions of the Austral-Magellan Basin. Their infil is constituted by a Late Cretaceous to Tertiary sedi- mentary and volcanoclastic 8,000 m thick succession deposited on a folded and eroded basement cropping out along the northern foothill of the Fueguian Andes. The main productive levels are sandy layers of the Springhill Fm and Tobífera Fm in the eroded basement highs. Also, levels of the Tertiary sequences are currently under evaluation adding an exploratory potential ranging from conventional plays related to transpression and inver- sion structure to new scenarios based upon tectosedimentary concepts.