Geology of Maracaibo Basin, western Venezuela

Global Significance of Hydrocarbons of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico

Sedimentary basins of the Gulf of Mexico and northern South America host a discontinuous belt of giant oil and gas fields that collectively contribute 5% of the ultimate hydrocarbon reserves of the world (BP, 2002) (Figure 10). Most of the hydrocarbons of northern South America occur onshore in Venezuela, with less significant deposits in the adjacent countries of Trinidad and Tobago and Colombia. Shelf and deep-water exploration is advanced in Trinidad and Tobago but much less advanced in the Caribbean Sea north of Venezuela and Colombia. The giant hydrocarbon provinces of the Gulf of Mexico form a geographically distinct province from northern South America that is separated by the hydrocarbon-poor region of the Caribbean Sea, Central America, and the Greater Antilles. Despite their present geographic separation by 2000–3000 km (1242–1864 mi), both the northern South America and Gulf of Mexico–eastern Mexico provinces were once contiguous prior to the breakup of Pangea and therefore share many similarities in their Late Jurassic structure and stratigraphy. The Maracaibo Basin is located on the southwestern edge of the Caribbean Sea in western Venezuela near its border with Colombia. Venezuela has the fifth largest hydrocarbon reserves in the world, with cumulative oil production of about 60 billion bbl and proven oil reserves of more than 70 billion bbl (Audemard and Serrano, 2001; BP, 2002; Horn, 2003; Escalona and Mann, 2006c). Most of the oil and gas produced in Venezuela is exported to the United States, with a much smaller amount being exported to hydrocarbon-poor nations in the circum-Caribbean and South America. In recent years, liquefied natural gas mainly produced in the eastern offshore area of Trinidad has also become a major export to the United States.

Location of giant oil and gas fields (red dots) of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico region compiled by Mann et al. (2003) and plotted on a bathymetric and topographic basemap from Sandwell and Smith (1997). A giant oil field is considered to be one for which the estimate of ultimately recoverable hydrocarbons is greater than 500 million bbl of oil; a giant gas field contains greater than 3 tcf of gas. As of 2004, the Maracaibo Basin of northwestern South America (boxed area) contains 14 individual giant oil fields. With a cumulative oil production of more than 50 billion bbl since the early 20th century and proven reserves of more than 70 billion bbl, the Maracaibo Basin is the most prolific, single supergiant basin in the Western Hemisphere.

Sequence-stratigraphy of Eocene clastic foreland basin deposits in central