Source Rock Evaluation in the Central-Western Flank of the Tampico Misantla T Basin, Mexico ∗ Carlos Vega-Ortiza, , Dhrupad R
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Journal of South American Earth Sciences 100 (2020) 102552 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of South American Earth Sciences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsames Source rock evaluation in the central-western flank of the Tampico Misantla T Basin, Mexico ∗ Carlos Vega-Ortiza, , Dhrupad R. Betia,b, Eiichi Setoyamab, John D. McLennana, Terry A. Ringa, Raymond Leveyb, Néstor Martínez-Romeroc a Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA b Energy & Geoscience Institute, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA c National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: Source rock evaluation is performed in a prospective block on the western-central flank of the Tampico Misantla Pyrolysis Basin (TMB), Mexico, analyzing the Agua Nueva, Pimienta and Taman formations. The rock samples are drilling Tampico Misantla Basin cores and cuttings obtained from legacy wells in an area delimited geographically on the west by the Sierra Agua nueva Madre Oriental. The area is located within the unconventional land region designated by Mexico's Ministry of Taman Energy (SENER). Pyrolysis analyses on 167 samples were performed using the HAWK℠ instrument. The results Pimienta of these source rock assessments indicate that most of the samples are classified in the oil to gas condensate Unconventional Mexico Geochemistry window, with low Total Organic Content (TOC) -dominated by non-generative organic carbon- and low Hydrogen Index (HI). A few wells showing higher S1/TOC ratio are recommended for further investigation. There is a general trend of increasing thermal maturity from southern to central-western Tampico Misantla Basin. The geochemical results were integrated with previously published data, thus enhancing our inter- pretations and providing additional insight on the thermal maturity and the phase of hydrocarbons of the Jurassic–Cretaceous source rock intervals in the region. 1. Introduction year plan for the development of domestic hydrocarbon exploration and production projects (SENER, 2015). This plan includes unconventional The petroleum industry in Mexico started with the discovery of the resources over a gross area of 69,670 km2 in the TMB. As of 2019, the prolific Golden Lane field located in the southeast part of theTampico TMB has proved reserves (1P) of 804 MMBOE, 2P of 3098 MMBOE and Misantla Basin (TMB) (Viniegra and Castillo-Tejero, 1970). Initially, the 3P of 5570 MMBOE (CNIH Reservas, 2019). The Area of Interest (AOI) oil production in the TMB targeted the Upper Cretaceous “El Abra” for the current study (Fig. 1A) is a 1735 km2 block located within the Formation (Aguayo-Camargo, 1998). In the early 2000s, exploration in TMB prospective unconventional resources area, in central-western the TMB was focused in the Chicontepec Basin (CB), which has pro- edge of the TMB at 150 km NW from the CB. Fig. 1B indicates the wells duced an accumulative 474 MMBOE (Oil = 333.4 MMB, Gas 724.3 with retrieved samples from CNH Geological Core Repository (Litoteca MMMCF) (CNIH Recursos, 2019), from the fields mentioned in the Nacional) for the source rock analysis. Although the AOI was first ex- Proyecto Aceite Terciario del Golfo (CNH-SENER, 2010). However, plored in 1912, no significant production was achieved (López-Ramos, operational difficulties associated with the highly complex turbidite 1952). Later, in the late 1950s, exploration in the AOI continued dril- depositional systems limited further development of the CB ling a total of 41 wells - the last drilled in 2000-, resulting in mostly dry (Hernández-Mendoza et al., 2011). Thus, a different approach for oil wells with a few isolated gas occurrences and oil-stained drilling cut- and gas production is required to overcome the decline from conven- tings and cores (CNH, 2018; Cruz-Luque et al., 2018). tional reservoirs. The TMB is geographically situated in the coastal plain of the Gulf of In light of the successful unconventional shale gas and oil produc- Mexico. It extends 50 km to the east, including shallow water fields. tion in North America (Bowker, 2007; Pollastro, 2007; Stevens and The basin is delimited to the west by the Sierra Madre Oriental, to the Moodhe, 2015), Mexico's Ministry of Energy (SENER), in collaboration north by the Tamaulipas arch and to the south by the Teziutlán Massif with the National Hydrocarbon Commission (CNH), established a five- (Fitz-Díaz et al., 2018). Fig. 2 is the stratigraphic column of the TMB ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (C. Vega-Ortiz). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2020.102552 Received 24 April 2019; Received in revised form 13 February 2020; Accepted 5 March 2020 Available online 19 March 2020 0895-9811/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. C. Vega-Ortiz, et al. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 100 (2020) 102552 Fig. 1. A. Location of the area of study within the Tampico Misantla Basin (purple line). The basin is delimited on the west by the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range and extends eastward toward the coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico. The red square indicates the area of interest (AOI). The study area considered by Morelos- Garcia (1996) is located in the south of the Golden Lane field and the Chicontepec Basin (Adapted from CNIH Mapas, 2019). Fig. 1B is a close-up of the AOI. Wells are shown where Pimienta formation samples were obtained for geochemistry analyses. (Base map from SGM, 2018). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.) annotated with relevant geologic events. This study presents a source 2. Geological background rock evaluation of three formations: Agua Nueva, Pimienta and Taman. The Cenomanian-Turonian Agua Nueva Formation is part of the The rocks at the base of the TMB petroleum system were deposited stratigraphy in the area of study (García-Sandoval, 2016). An analysis during the Late Triassic. The basement rocks are part of a well-defined by Yallup and Bromhead (2018) evaluates the geological similarities metamorphic complex and characteristic red beds in the paleo-Pacific between the geologically contemporary Eagle Ford and Agua Nueva -western- margin of Pangea (Quezada-Flores, 1961; Cantú-Chapa, 1992; formations, that were deposited in the same paleo-shelf margin, al- Cantú-Chapa, 1998; Fastovsky et al., 2005; Barboza-Gudiño et al., though these similarities are bound to the proximal regions to the Sligo/ 2010; Barboza-Gudiño et al., 2004) formed on the active North Amer- Cupido margin in the Burgos and Sabinas basins in NE Mexico (Gold- ican continental margin (Barboza-Gudiño et al., 1998; Cantú-Chapa, hammer and Johnson, 2001). In the TMB, regional oceanic conditions 2001). and organic matter deposition produced lithofacies with oil window During the Early Jurassic, continental rifting related to the breakup and maturity of less than or equal to 1.3 Ro% and total organic carbon of Pangea created an alternating sequence of coastal plain and marine (TOC) on the order of 2%. The majority of the samples that have been transgression sedimentary environments in the ancestral Pacific Ocean evaluated were in the oil window, with Tmax ranging from 435 °C to (Cantú-Chapa, 2001). Variable depositional conditions from rifting to 465 °C (USGS Mexico Assessment Team, 2015). post-rift allowed basinal and shallow marine deposits in a paleo-bay, The Tithonian Pimienta Formation in the TMB has been identified as where the Huayacocotla fFormation was preserved as siltstones and one of the most prominent unconventional reservoirs in the world (US- sandstones in the lower section, and as black shales in the upper section EIA, 2015). Magoon et al. (2001) concluded that the Pimienta Forma- (Rueda-Gaxiola et al., 1993; CNH, 2018). The Rosario Formation is tion acted as the source rock that generated the vast reserves in the another sequence described as red alluvial fluvial, plant bearing de- southern Gulf of Mexico, including the giant offshore fields of the Sonda posits, composed of interbedded dark carbonaceous shales, siltstones de Campeche (Santamaría-Orozco, 2000). In a comprehensive study of and fine grained paralic sandstones (Salvador, 1987, Alzaga-Ruiz et al., the Upper Jurassic of the TMB, Jarvie and Maende (2016) reported an 2009). average TOC of 4.5 wt % and Hydrogen Indices (HI) ranging from 400 During Middle Jurassic times, as the Yucatan Platform drifted to 600 mg HC/g TOC. However, in a geochemical evaluation in a southward away from the North American Plate (Marton and Buffler, specific block located in the southern part of theTMB, Morelos-Garcia 2016), the opening of the Gulf of Mexico led to a marine regression and (1996) reported a lower average TOC of 1.65 wt % and lower HI values subsequent continental basin deposition (Pindell and Kennan, 2009), (most of them less than 350 mg HC/g TOC). Granados Hernandez et al. resulting in the deposition of the Cahuasas Formation. (2018) analyzed the Pimienta Formation for the areas Anhélido, In the Late Jurassic, a gradual continuous sea transgression flooded Punchut, and Tantocob, also located in the central and southeast areas the continental area, creating a shallow-water, low-energy sea with a of the TMB, reporting TOC within a 0.5 to 8 wt % range, and HI less reducing environment (Peterson, 1983). Goldhammer and Johnson than 600 mg HC/g TOC, dominated by kerogen type II and III. (2001) described the depositional setting as preexisting carbonate The Kimmeridgian Taman Formation was also studied by Morelos- ramps flooded with fine-grained, deep marine lithofacies. These de- Garcia (1996). Pyrolysis results indicated TOC of approximately 1.9 wt posits rich in organic matter would eventually become the source of % and HI less than 300 mg HC/g TOC.