7 – 9 JUNE 2022

WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA

HYDROCARBON
POTENTIAL IN
NAMIBIA

TECTONIC-PLATE RECONSTRUCTION FOR PETROLEUM SYSTEM

APPLIED TO THE SOUTH AMERICA AUSTRAL MARGIN
Letícia L. Mallmann¹, Henrique Serratt1 2, Tiago J. Girelli¹ , Claudia D. Teixeira¹, Marcelo K.
Souza¹, Gisela S. de Oliveira¹, Sabrina M. Ramos¹, Farid Chemale Jr.¹

1 UNISINOS – University of Vale do Rio Dos Sinos

2 UnB – University of Brasilia

The recent oil discoveries on the Namibia coast aroused interest in the South America Austral Margin. We carried out a
careful reconstruction model for the conjugated margins, including Orange, Walvis, and Luderitz basins on the African coast
and Pelotas, Punta del Este, and Salado basins in South America. In the reconstruction model, the Wingat-1 and Venus wells
that drilled the Aptian on the Namibian coast, define a restricted area to be targeted in the South America margin (Fig.1). In
the Pelotas basin, we identified turbiditic seismofacies with high amplitude reflectors on the top in this area overlying the thick
package of the Seaward Dipping Reflectors (SDRs). Based on this evidence and correlation, we postulate that these deposits
can be like those discovered in Wingat-1. The integration of the seismic interpretation and plate reconstruction provided a
reliable model and consequently increase the potential to obtain a positive result, especially regarding the exploratory
frontiers. The elements of a petroleum system developed in the early continental breakup stage (rift and early drift) in Austral
South Atlantic can be tracked by reconstruction in conjugated margins. Using petroleum system elements found in one
margin, we can provide selected targets for their conjugated margin for future investigation.

Figure 1. Map of reconstruction of Gondwana

opening (125 Ma) using Matthews et al., (2016)
rotation files. Observe which Venus-1X well is
correlated with the Uruguayan basin of Punta del
Este. The Seismic line in this reconstruction shows
MTDs in the base as reported in the well Wingat-1,
the high amplitudes observed in Pelotas Basin MTD
can be due to the occurrence of hydrocarbons.

1s

2s

3s

4s

5s

6s

7s

8s

9s

Figure 2. The seismic line showed in figure 1. We

observed MTDS with high amplitudes above the
SDRs, similar to the rocks cut-crossed by the
Venus-1X well and Wingat-1.

Reference:
"Matthews, K.J., Maloney, K.T., Zahirovic, S., Williams,
S.E., Seton, M., and Müller, R.D. 2016, Global plate
boundary evolution and kinematics since the late
Paleozoic : Global and Planetary Change, Vol 146,
226-250."

Acknowledges

AAPG AFRICA

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT

africa.aapg.org