The Integrated Reservoir Solutions Division has compiled a Wilcox provenance dataset from the Core Lab Texas and Louisiana Wilcox Regional Studies. This dataset will allow operators to conduct proprietary sandstone provenance studies in the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico. This dataset consists of Paleocene to Lower Eocene sandstone reservoirs expected to be encountered in the Alaminos Canyon and Walker Ridge areas. These sandstones have several possible fluvial-deltaic sediment source areas along the Texas and Louisiana coeval shelf, with Mexico also being a candidate. Some of the possible source areas are the Rio Grande, Carrizo, Corsair, Houston, Red River and Mississippi depositional axes.
The database contains the quantitative petrographic analysis of selected sandstone thin sections from twenty-two (22) wells located in the onshore shelf rimming the Gulf of Mexico. The composition of deepwater sandstones can then be compared and contrasted (i.e., matched) with the shelf (onshore) sandstones to determine the most likely source area(s) for similarly aged deepwater sandstones, using this database.
In addition, thirty-seven (37) Mexican outcrop samples from the La Popa, Tampico/Misantla, and Burgos Basins have been collected and added to the Texas and Louisiana dataset. Shale samples were collected for age verification.