EVALUATING THE PETROLEUM SYSTEMS OF THE NORTHERN DEEP GULF-OF-MEXICO THROUGH INTEGRATED BASIN ANALYSIS - AN OVERVIEW

Exploration and development activity has increased significantly durin g the past 5 years in the northern deep Gulf of Mexico. This activity has been caused by several factors, including significant discoveries in deep water (> 1500-ft water depth), outstanding reservoir performan ce in some of these discoveries, expiration of 10-year leases original ly purchased in the mid-1980s, innovative production techniques, and n ew federal royalty relief. Exploration and production has occurred in three general exploration subprovinces: present shelf, deep water, and the subsalt that extends from shelf into upper slope. Each subprovinc e consists of slightly different geology and, subsequently different e conomic scenarios. This paper introduces the geologic setting for a po rtion of the outer shelf and upper to middle slope region in the north ern Gulf of Mexico. The following eight papers demonstrate how the pet roleum systems of the deep Gulf of Mexico can be analyzed by using an integrated approach. This issue of the Bulletin includes papers that d escribe the petroleum geology of the northern Green Canyon and Ewing B ank region: petroleum fields and discoveries, sequence stratigraphy, b iostratigraphy, three-dimensional seismic stratigraphic interpretation , structural geology using restorations, interaction of salt tectonics and sedimentation, and geothermal modeling and path migration predict ion.