Memoir 117: Petroleum Basins and Hydrocarbon Potential of the Andes of Peru and Bolivia

AAPG Memoir 117 is the first international book dedicated to the petroleum geology and exploration potential of Peru and Bolivia. The geological evolution of the sedimentary basins of the sub-Andean and forearc regions of Peru and Bolivia was, to a large extent, controlled by the development of the South American margin of western Gondwana, setting up a favorable environment to the deposition of a variety of source rocks and reservoirs. Uplift of the Andean Cordillera during the Cenozoic generated a diversity of structural styles controlled by the mechanical stratigraphy of the thick sedimentary sequences and the influences of pre-existing structures and older basement fabrics.

This publication represents the most up-to-date, comprehensive analysis of the area since the publication in 1995 of AAPG Memoir 62 on the Petroleum Basins of South America. In the meantime, there has been very important exploration efforts that resulted in the discovery of 8.7 BBOE of oil and gas in the sub-Andean areas of northern Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru, with 85% of these discoveries found in the fold belt in structurally complex zones. Of these, the largest were found in the Chaco sub-Andean zone of Bolivia (5.3 BBOE), followed by the Camisea area of Peru (2.1 million BOE). However, the latest significant discoveries in Bolivia took place in 2004 (Incahuasi) and in 2008–2009 in Peru (Kinteroni and Urubamba, respectively). Activity has diminished considerably in the area during the past 10 years, when only 67 exploratory wells were drilled, resulting in a much lower volume of hydrocarbons discovered than in prior decades (1.3 BBOE).

Exploration activities in Peru and Bolivia have proven the existence of large gas fields with proven reserves greater than 10 TCF. However, a large number of prospects, mainly related to undrilled structures or deep targets, together with several frontier basins with exploration potential, make Peru and Bolivia very attractive for exploration.

This Memoir not only concentrates on the sub-Andean basins but also brings into focus the prospectivity of some of the Peruvian forearc areas. In conjunction, this set of chapters presents state-of-the-art knowledge on these basins and provides new insight into still unexplored or poorly explored areas such as the Santiago, Huallaga, Ene, Madre de Dios, and Beni Basins. Overall, they provide a comprehensive analysis of the structural styles present in these areas and bring into focus, among other aspects, the relevance of the understanding of older Paleozoic events, which produce an imprint on the subsequent tectonic deformations.

The 23 multidisciplinary papers of this volume cover a wide range of geological and geophysical topics, from tectonic evolution, geochemistry and petroleum systems, fold and thrust belt structural analysis, stratigraphy and sedimentology, potential methods, to oil and gas exploration potential and new plays as well as recent discoveries.

This Memoir is critical for exploration geoscientists in the petroleum industry, research institutions, and academia in order to understand the diverse petroleum systems, the tectonic and geologic evolution of sedimentary basins, and the development of hydrocarbon fields in these regions of South America.