Bahama Platform

Commentary

The recent drilling activity, while technically promising, failed to intersect commercial hydrocarbons, and as such will deemphasis the BPB for the near-term.

Updated

July 15, 2023

Location

Description

The current extent of the BPB has been shaped by three different periods of orogeny. In the Late Jurassic-Coahuilan, north-western and south-eastern sedimentary provinces were separated by the Sarasota arch, located on the west Florida shelf. From the Late Jurassic, the continental margin was occupied by a carbonate complex that restricted marine circulation in some areas, although in the southeast of the basin this barrier caused the deposition of lagoonal carbonates and anhydrites, with clastics being deposited in the northern areas. Carbonate-evaporite deposition in the south ended at the close of the Comanchea and was followed by the deposition of chalk and chalky limestone in the Gulfian. During this epoch, the rapid subsidence of the Blake Plateau basin to bathyal depths and the collapse of the Florida straits contributed to the appearance of the Rebecca Shoal barrier reef on the upthrown northern side of the straits.

Summary

The Bahama Platform Basin (BPB) is relatively under-explored, with only a handful of wells drilled deep enough to test oil and gas prospectivity. Recent wells have improved the outlook, but that it was dry, is a set back for its prospectivity.