Geology topics
Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including South Florida Basin.
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean undiscovered, technically recoverable resources of 49 million barrels of oil and 18 billion cubic feet of gas in the onshore and State waters part of the South Florida basin.
This paper demonstrates geospatial modification of the USGS methodology for assessing geologic CO2 storage resources, and was applied to the Pre-Punta Gorda Composite and Dollar Bay reservoirs of the South Florida Basin. The study provides detailed evaluation of porous intervals within these reservoirs and utilizes GIS to evaluate the potential spatial distribution of reservoir parameters and volume of CO2 that can be stored. This study also shows that incorporating spatial variation of parameters using detailed and robust datasets may improve estimates of storage resources when compared to applying uniform values across the study area derived from small datasets, like many assessment methodologies. Geospatially derived estimates of storage resources presented here (Pre-Punta Gorda Composite = 105,570 MtCO2; Dollar Bay = 24,760 MtCO2) were greater than previous assessments, which was largely attributed to the fact that detailed evaluation of these reservoirs resulted in higher estimates of porosity and net-porous thickness, and areas of high porosity and thick net-porous intervals were incorporated into the model, likely increasing the calculated volume of storage space available for CO2 sequestration. The geospatial method for evaluating CO2 storage resources also provides the ability to identify areas that potentially contain higher volumes of storage resources, as well as areas that might be less favorable.
This report presents five storage assessment units (SAUs) that have been identified as potentially suitable for geologic carbon dioxide sequestration within a 35,075-square-mile area that includes the entire onshore and State-water portions of the South Florida Basin. Platform-wide, thick successions of laterally extensive carbonates and evaporites deposited in highly cyclic depositional environments in the South Florida Basin provide several massive, porous carbonate reservoirs that are separated by evaporite seals. For each storage assessment unit identified within the basin, the areal distribution of the reservoir-seal couplet identified as suitable for geologic Carbon dioxide sequestration is presented, along with a description of the geologic characteristics that influence the potential carbon dioxide storage volume and reservoir performance. On a case-by-case basis, strategies for estimating the pore volume existing within structurally and (or) stratigraphically closed traps are also discussed. Geologic information presented in this report has been employed to calculate potential storage capacities for carbon dioxide sequestration in the storage assessment units assessed herein, although complete assessment results are not contained in this report.
In recent years several wells have been drilled in the South Florida Basin through carbonate and evaporite sequences to depths as much as 5,300 ft below the Punta Gorda Anhydrite. The deepest well penetrated igneous basement rocks to a total depth of 18, 670 ft. Correlation of anhydrite beds below the Punta Gorda has revealed several thick anhydrite units (200 to 400 ft) with regional persistence. The pre-Punta Gorda section is subdivided into four easily identifiable units listed in order of increasing age — Lehigh Acres (lowermost Comanchean), Pumpkin Bay (upper Coahuilan), Bone Island (lower Coahuilan), and Wood River (Jurassic?) Formations, all newly named in this report. In addition, the Lehigh Acres is divided into the West Felda Shale (base), Twelve Mile, and Able Members which are also named and defined in this report. Geochemical evidence indicates that the Lehigh Acres unit and the upper part of the Pumpkin Bay unit contain the most likely source beds for petroleum. Only two production tests have been carried out in the basin in strata below the oil-productive Sunniland Limestone. One was through casing in a Wood River dolomite zone. It reportedly produced water and some gas. The other was a drill stem test in an upper Pumpkin Bay dolomite zone which produced only water. In the Gulf Florida State Lease 826Y (Permit No. 275), a moderately porous, 350-ft-thick Pumpkin Bay dolomite zone was observed. As this well is west of the axis of the basin, better reservoir conditions presumably exist on the West Florida shelf than onshore.