Legendary Fields- Special Dinner Meeting

The HGS is continuing its succession of January “Legend” programs on Monday night, January 8, 2007, with a special dinner meeting featuring “discovery stories” of three giant oil and gas fields as told by key technical personnel associated with the companies at the time of discovery.
In 2001 and 2003, the “Legends in Wildcatting” programs captivated Houston geoscientists in the audience with dramatic stories of finding oil and gas and wildcat drilling success. In January 2006, the program “Geo-Legends” was attended by 300 geoscientists and featured famous geologists talking about their distinguished careers.
This January 8, don’t miss the next installment in the Legends series: “Legendary Fields!” This program will be held as an HGS General Dinner meeting at the Westchase Hilton, 9999 Westheimer starting with a social hour at 5:30 pm. This year’s program, organized by HGS Vice President Andrea Reynolds and HGS Past President Jeff Lund, features the following outstanding speakers:  Joe Bruso (CEO Sovereign Oil and Gas) talking on the discovery of Zafiro Field, West Africa; Mike Mahaffie (Shell) speaking on the discovery of Mars Field, offshore Gulf of Mexico; and the Mexican petroleum organization Pemex will present Cantarell Field, offshore Yucatan, Mexico.
It will be an evening of discovery stories that all geologists will enjoy. The January 8 HGS dinner program will provide inspiration and personal perspective on the energy business to carry everybody forward during 2007.  The night’s program will last until 9:30pm, and interested guests and spouses are welcome to attend with HGS members.
Pre-registration and prepayment for the Legendary Fields January dinner meeting can be accomplished before January 5 using the HGS website at http://www.hgs.org/en/cev/?685, or by faxing the signup sheet found inside the December 2006 and January 2007 HGS Bulletins. The pre-registration price is $28 for members and $35 for non-members. A limited number of walk-in spaces could be available at $35 each, but this event will sell out after the first 200 people register.
Here is a summary of the famous fields and their distinguished presenters:
Field name   Zafiro field location   Equatorial Guinea, offshore west Africa, near the Nigeria borderOperator:  ExxonMobil and Devon EnergyReserve size  1.2 billion barrels in several satellite fieldsDiscovery date  Prospect mapped in 1993, field discovered-1995
Bullet points: First large oil field discovered in EG. Field initially thought to be 180MMBO, but field size expanded with extension drilling.
Trap Structural /stratigraphic trap where an underlying structural high is draped over by multiple channels deposited in a slope environment.
Reservoir Pliocene turbidite sands; main reservoir rocks were deposited by channels funneling sands into a laterally confined area.
Production facts:  Zafiro reserves -1.2 billion bbl recoverable, the field is producing 300,000 BOPD.Initially developed by Mobil (now ExxonMobil), and Ocean Energy/United Meridian (now merged into Devon Energy).
Challenges: Channelized sand reservoirs with both oil and gas. Field accumulations are spread out geographically and were developed by using multiple facilities, tied together using subsea completions.
Discovery story: A small independent company (United Meridian) assembled their first international prospect in an incredible story of teamwork. The company’s geologists and geophysicists understood the trends from neighboring Nigeria, and saw the potential on conventional 2D seismic shot by oil companies had exited EG. The prospect started as a bright spot play, but non-amplitude reservoirs contributed oil reserves.
Learning value:  Small companies can move quickly and make a big impact internationally. The Zafiro field became larger by adding satellite accumulations. The field is an analog for deepwater channelized turbidite clastic reservoirs in Africa.
Distinguished presenter:J. M. (Joe) Bruso, Jr. __________________________________________Field name    Mars field location   offshore U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi Canyon.Operator:  Shell Offshore/BPReserve size  700 Million BarrelsDiscovery date  Prospect mapped in 1986, field discovered-1989
Bullet points: One of the most studied oil and gas fields in the GOM in terms of seismic expression and trap configuration, thanks to numerous publications by Shell, BP and universities.  Technology advances in production (the tension leg platform) paved the way for deepwater development of many fields in 3000 ft. of water and greater.
Trap Structural/ stratigraphic trap associated with onlap onto salt diapers.
Reservoir Pliocene turbidite sands, found in compartmentalized reservoirs.  Fourteen significant, amplitude-supported intervals (7 primary levels) ranging in depth from -10,000 to -19,000 feet.
Production facts:  Individual wells at one time produced 20,000 to 30,000 BOPD.  Part of Shell’s long history of deep water discoveries, with 12 fields on production.
Challenges: Inventing the engineering technology needed to bring deepwater reserves to shore. The deepwater GOM effort was always fighting “marginal” economic status because of high cost to develop. “Shell spent over $1 billion, including expensive dry holes, before having enough data to be confident of a successful play.“ (see Mike Forrest’s article http://www.aapg.org/explorer/wildcat/2000/wildcat07.cfm)
Discovery story: Prospect story began in 1986 when the US federal area-wide leasing started, opening up blocks in deepwater GOM hundreds of miles offshore. Bright amplitudes turned out to be pay. Many additional blocky sand oil pays were found hidden as deeper sands that lacked "bright spot" support on the seismic available at that time. High-quality seismic data and reservoir architecture models were combined in a pre-development phase of a prospect, in order to optimize well placement. 
Learning value: The reservoirs of Mars field are a template for description of deepwater turbidite complexes, thanks to the many technical publications of Shell geoscientists and distribution of reservoir/well data to industry and academia.
Distinguished presenter:M.J. (Mike) Mahaffie
 
 
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Field name   Cantarell field location   offshore Yucatan Peninsula, MexicoOperator:  Pemex Exploración y Producción (PEP)Reserve size  11 billion barrels