When discussing Latin American unconventional plays, Argentina’s Vaca Muerta is the first name that comes to mind – but geoscientists throughout the region and the world also are discovering significant unconventional resource potential north of the Southern Cone.
One of the region’s new hot spots is Colombia, whose enormous heavy oil and shale gas and shale oil reserves are primary components of the country’s near-future portfolio. Formations including La Luna and Tablazo in the Middle Magdalena Basin are drawing interest from domestic and international companies, who are applying lessons learned in other regions to the local terrain.
Colombia’s unconventional and heavy oil potential are the focus of “Expanding Unconventional Resources in Colombia with New Science – From Heavy Oil to Shale Gas/Shale Oil Opportunities,” an AAPG geosciences technology workshop (GTW) set Dec. 10-11 in Bogotá.
The workshop, organized by AAPG’s Latin America Region and the Asociación Colombiana de Geólogos y Geofísicos del Petróleo (ACGGP), includes modules on reservoir characterization, technology and applications and global analogues for unconventional resources and heavy oil.
Sessions will be interdisciplinary – including seismic interpretation, petrophysical evaluation and geomechanics considerations – and include lessons learned from Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela.
GTW session chair Edward Tovar, unconventional reservoirs manager with Ecopetrol, said companies working in Colombia can benefit from experiences learned in other parts of the world, particularly in the United States and Canada.
“In Latin America, we are taking advantage of the learning curve already constructed in North America,” Tovar said. “The major difference here is that there is less hydraulic fracturing capacity here.”
Tovar, who has spent the last three years working with the Catatumbo and Upper and Middle Magdalena Basins, said Colombian geologists also have knowledge to share with colleagues from other parts of the world.
“We (at Ecopetrol) are evaluating the cretaceous formations, well known as world class source rocks,” he said, adding that understanding the country’s complex geology is crucial for successful exploration.
“People should know not only the composition of the source rocks but also the tectonic history behind those rocks,” he said.
GTW participants will hear presentations from Ecopetrol, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Nexxen, Petrobras and Pacific Rubiales, and will share their own perspectives at roundtable discussions following each session.
For more information or to register for the workshop visit the GTW Colombia website.