Assessment of favourability for hydrocarbon discoveries in the Halten Terrace

A new Bayesian weighting methodology and discriminant analysis have been used in the Halten Terrace to quantify the favourability for hydrocarbon discoveries. Both methods for delineating favourable areas are based upon a cell-by-cell basis where GIS is used to express different geologic factors as present or absent. Later the cells are weighted and probabilistically combined to form a favourability map. The preprocessing of structural data from the Halten Terrace involves extensive use of GIS and statistics to compute influence zones that relate faults to potentially producible quantities of hydrocarbons. The preprocessed data are organized in structural models and the characterization of estimated favorable areas is later verified against existing exploration results in order to evaluate the remaining potential of hydrocarbons in target areas. This study shows that both concepts, Bayesian weighting methodology and discriminant analysis, assisted by GIS and based on geologic features can be used to map zones favorable for new hydrocarbon discoveries.