Following a recent announcement on Offshore Energy Today Spectrum's Karyna Rodriguez and Neil Hogdson discuss the hotly debated Caribbean Plate and what this means for the Oil Industry.

The origin of the Caribbean Plate is one of the most hotly debated topics in academia and industry. The dogma of a 'Pacific Origin' model - an Oceanic plate squeezed between North and South America's supposes that the Caribbean comprises just a 20 km thick basaltic plateau and has been one of the main reasons why exploration has not taken off in this region. However, the evidence is clear that this model is not correct. Seismic data offshore Jamaica shows a thick sedimentary package on continental crust with Tullow's extensive Oil slick sampling and acquisition of new 3D seismic data demonstrating a hydrocarbon system previously overlooked. Tullow have also integrated onshore seep and geology studies in an evaluation that indicates presence of source rock, reservoir and traps over their acreage.

Spectrum's extensive 2D dataset offshore Jamaica indicates significant prospectivity with clear hydrocarbon indicators such as fluid pipes and depth conformant amplitude anomalies. This dataset covers both Tullow's acreage and the adjacent open area, and can be used to understand the Colibri prospect and nearby analogues. Jamaica is a frontier area with clear signs of great overlooked potential, and exploration here is set to provide the powder-keg to blow apart the understanding of the Caribbean plate tectonic model.

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Spectrum ASA published this content on 20 August 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 20 August 2018 14:20:04 UTC