The Sureste Basin of southern Mexico has all the components to be classed as one of the world’s super basins for hydrocarbon exploration and production. This is because of its endowment with one of the world’s great source rock systems, namely, the Late Jurassic Edzna Formation, in combination with stacking of multiple potential reservoirs in a highly structural salt basin.This paper discusses the hydrocarbon play potential of the Sureste Basin within a tectono-stratigraphic context and outlines the key risks, uncertainties, and opportunities for future exploration. Surface oil seepage and seismic mapping clearly show that many prospective structures extend into the underexplored deeper-water basin area. Key risks are related to charge, with substantial migration required from deeply buried Late Jurassic source rocks into shallower carbonate and clastic reservoirs. In particular, “deep charge focus” and “hydrocarbon charge versus trap timing” are key risk elements.Two key uncertainties are the deep reservoir quality of the lithic sandstones in Paleogene reservoirs and column height prediction for high-relief traps. The highly structured nature of the underexplored deep-water Campeche slope in combination with extensive hydrocarbon seepage to the seabed bodes well for a prolific exploration future in expanding the proven reservoir systems further, taking advantage of established deep-water drilling practices and advanced wide-azimuth three-dimensional (3-D) seismic imaging. It is also likely that with expanding high-quality 3-D seismic coverage around shallow water and onshore existing discoveries, additional reservoir targets and additional fault blocks will become visible.

中文翻译：

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墨西哥南部的Sureste超级盆地

墨西哥南部的Sureste盆地的所有组成部分都被归类为世界上用于油气勘探和生产的超级盆地之一。这是因为它拥有世界上最伟大的烃源岩系统之一，即晚侏罗纪埃兹纳组，再加上高度结构化盐盆地中多个潜在储层的堆叠。在构造-地层背景下，概述了主要风险，不确定性和未来勘探的机会。地表渗油和地震测绘清楚地表明，许多前瞻性构造延伸到未勘探的深水盆地地区。主要风险与收费有关，从深埋的晚侏罗世烃源岩到较浅的碳酸盐岩和碎屑岩储层需要大量的迁移。特别是，“深部充注焦点”和“烃类充注与圈闭时机”是关键的风险因素。两个关键的不确定性是古近纪储层中的岩性砂岩的深层储层质量和高浮雕圈闭的柱高预测。未开发的深水坎佩切州斜坡的高度结构化性质，再加上大量的碳氢化合物渗入海底，预示着丰富的勘探未来，可以利用已建立的深水钻探实践和先进的宽方位角进一步扩大已探明的储层系统三维（3-D）地震成像。