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Caribbean Region: Perspectives on Petroleum

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Energy and Mineral Potential of the Central American-Caribbean Region

Part of the book series: Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources Earth Science Series ((CIRCUM-PACIFIC,volume 16))

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Abstract

The Caribbean region unambiguously illustrates several principles of petroleum geology, the most important of which is that tectonic stability in the continental platform environment is essential to the generation, accumulation, and preservation of petroleum. Platform blocks account for 99.99 percent of the region’s cumulative production and proved oil and gas reserves, 95 percent of its oil resources (oil still to be discovered), and 87 percent of its gas resources (gas still to be discovered). However, a platform can be too stable, as illustrated by large parts of the Yucatan and Florida-Bahamas platforms where production and reserves are nil. In contrast, the mobile-belt environment ultimately leads to the destruction of generated petroleum, unless the mobile belt becomes stabilized by accretion to an already-existing platform. Use of these principles in the Caribbean suggests that future exploration should be concentrated almost entirely in stable blocks. However, the search for future reserves should not be limited to rocks of Late Jurassic through Pleistocene ages, as it has been in the past, but expanded to include a concerted search in late Paleozoic rocks whose platform facies are well developed in at least two large areas of the Caribbean region.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. P. O. Box 4602, Tulsa, OK, 74159, USA

    Arthur A. Meyerhoff

  2. P. O. Box 64610, Los Angeles, CA, 90064, USA

    Anthony E. L. Morris

  3. 3336 Fast 32nd Street, Suite 210, Tulsa, OK, 74135, USA

    Irfan Taner

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  1. Arthur A. Meyerhoff
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  2. Anthony E. L. Morris
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  3. Irfan Taner
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Apartado 74, Pavas, San José, Costa Rica

    Gregorio Escalante (Consultant) (Consultant)

  2. U.S. Geological Survey, 12204 Sunrise Valley Drive, 22092, Reston, VA, USA

    John A. Reinemund (Emeritus) & Marion J. Bergin (Emeritus) (Emeritus) &  (Emeritus)

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© 1995 Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources

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Meyerhoff, A.A., Morris, A.E.L., Taner, I. (1995). Caribbean Region: Perspectives on Petroleum. In: Miller, R.L., Escalante, G., Reinemund, J.A., Bergin, M.J. (eds) Energy and Mineral Potential of the Central American-Caribbean Region. Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources Earth Science Series, vol 16. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79476-6_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79476-6_9

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