Sechura

Commentary

The SCB is technically attractive. The new Fujimori government favours expanding hydrocarbon production and removing Petroperú from upstream, but extended approvals and chronic political instability continue to hamper investment. Outlook: Uncertain.

Updated

October 12, 2026

Location

Description

The SCB contains late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic sediments with a fairly thick cover of Tertiary strata, consisting of about 2,300ft of Neogene rocks above a Paleogene sequence. The Paleogene sequence includes most of the stratigraphic units recognized in the analogous Talara basin. Onshore well control indicates that the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic sequences are also similar to the units in the Talara basin, except that rocks of Aptian age are the oldest Mesozoic in the Talara basin, whereas the SCB contains both Triassic and Jurassic strata.

Summary

The SCB is the largest of the country's shelf basins, and has been widely studied, although sparsely explored. There is a significant volume of geophysical data, including some 12,700km of 2D seismic, as well as a slew of gravity and magnetic studies.