SALT SECTION DISCOVERED IN NORTHERNredciencia.cu/geobiblio/paper/Wassall_Salt section...SALT SECTION...
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SALT SECTION DISCOVERED IN NORTHERN by Harry W. Wassall - Consulting Geologist Cuban Kewanee Oil Company, Tina # 1, located on the north .of . Cuba, - aea! the , town of Cunagua, Camaguey province .. has encount e red the first S<\lt $ection. known in Cuba . ·.· . . . This test was drilled on a farm-out from Atlanti c R efining ,\ i sing th¢. Natioial . 15 rig b elonging to the Cuban Government. Ti na # 1, loc' ated on - the fia"nk ·: of a surface anticline known as Lorna Cunagua, started in Miocene lime _ stone ·. and.below. this is re p orted to have found Mi ocene anhydr ite. Below the Mio- cene, a section of volcanics mixed with anhydrite was found and is presumed • to be Cretaceous age . The first evidence of salt was found in ·a core tak,en at 5989 '- 6005' which recovered 14' of salt and 3'' of volcanics. The salt was dissol ve d by the dr illing fluid and did not show in cuttings, but from a of thedrillingtimeitwas es6mated that it was first encountered at about 5500' . arid continued to the p resent total depth of 6430 1 • Although suspected by many.geologists, this is the first proof of a salt section on the northern coast of Cuba. The accompanying map show, the of . . previous tests in this area which found other types of evaporites such as - hydrite and primary dolomite . · Shell 1 s Cayo Coco #2, found a dolomite-anhydrite section from about 4000 1 to total depth of 10, 563', and two porous dolomite zones with good. showings of light oil , which drill-stem tested s alt water . The only other deep test on the north coast is Gulf's B lanquiz al #! which found' a dolomite section from abo ut 300' to total d epth of 11,218! , with a ll the an ::.. hydrite mis si ng and no significan: shows . Thick sections of breccias were found which were interpreted as collaps ed brecc ias , formed when anhydrite was removed by sol uti on f ro m a dolomite -a nhydrite section . · · · Lorna Cunagua is one of three surface structures known on the north coast of Cuba. The othe r two occur at Punta Alegre and Is la de Turiguano and consist of dolomi te and gyps um (altered anhydrite) outcrops surrounded by Miocene · clays and limestones . The age of the dolomite - anhydrite is generally assumed · to be · Lower Cretaceous or Jurassic . However , it may be as youn;g as Mio- cene and this possibili ty is strengthened, now that anhydr i te is r epor ted in the Miocene section penetrated in Tina # 1. - · The discovery of salt in the north coast subsurface suggests the presence of salt domes, which would be extremely fa vo rable for the oil prospects- of the area . Howe ve r, it is questionab le whether salt section under an of extremely competent sediments ( such as thick sections of dolomite am;lli,rne- stone) would perm it the formation of the type of domes known in the Gulf Coast area of the Un ited States, where the o ve r-burden consists ofloosely · sands and clay-shales . . . One puzzling feature about the Lorna Cunagua structure, is the: fact that trends northeast. Th is is nearly at right to the reg i onal '*:hich 22
Transcript of SALT SECTION DISCOVERED IN NORTHERNredciencia.cu/geobiblio/paper/Wassall_Salt section...SALT SECTION...
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SALT SECTION DISCOVERED IN NORTHERN COAST ',~'fiT.
by Harry W . Wassall - Consulting Geologist
Cuban Kewanee Oil Company, Tina # 1, located on the north co~s_t .of . Cuba, -aea! the,town of Cunagua, Camaguey province .. has encounte red the first S
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.~HE TEXAS COMPANY (WEST INDIES) LTD.
Mr. F. D. Bode, assistant manager foreign operations, Western Hemisphere and Western Africa, of the Texas Company, has just complete~ an inspection trip in Cuba. During his stay he conferred with geologist Charles Duclos and the. two made a trip through the interior of Cuba. Although Texas has no land
· . .in Cuba now, they are interested in obtaining acreage.
THE FIRST QUARTERLY REVISION
o£ the
CUBAN OIL DIRECT OR Y
WILL BE COMPLETED LATER TillS MONTH AND WILL BE DISTRIBUTED
FREE OF CHARGE TO ALL CPND SUBSCRIBERS. THE NEW DIRECTORY
CONTAINS SO MANY ADDITIONS AND CHANGES THAT IT IS BEING EN-
TIRELY REVISED. OLD COPIES ARE NOW OUT OF DATE AND WILL BE
PICKED UP WHEN THE NEW ONES ARE DELIVERED. SUBSCRIBERS ·
WILL ALSO BE FURNISHED WITH A CARDBOARD COVER. ANY SUB-
SCRIBER WHO MAY WISH TO HAVE CHANGES OR ADDITIONS MADE IN
THE DIRECTORY SHOULD IMMEDIATELY GET IN TOUCH WITH THE
EDITORS OF CPND. THE DIRECTORY IS PREPARED FOR THE CON-.,
VENIENCE OF THE OIL COMMUNITY OF CUBA, AND WE ARE ANXIOUS
THAT IT BE ACCURATE AND COMPLETE.
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together with the Punta Alegre and Tur igua:no uplifts, trends northwest. A d:atiric intrusion of salt wodd b e one explanation of this anom aly; but it will take further d rilling to e valuate whe ther Tina # 1 fo:;:nd a t rue dome or merely ::-elatively undistu:ttbed sal t bed s.
If bedded s~lt has b een encoun t ered , there i s a fair chance that dee per d r illing in this area may penetrate the s alt , and find a new section of older sediments which might have considerable bearing on the oil possibilit ies of the no rth coast a rea. (See ma.p on next page. )
PRODUCTION Barrels per day
Ja.tibon ic o Ja.rahu.eca M otembo Ha vana Total
March 19 56 I , 165 136 11 22 0 1 ,538
February 1956 1 , 26 9 153 17 202 1, 64 1
Marc h 1955 50 0 150 17 50 717
During March 1956 there was a slight d ecline in the production of both the Ja-tibonico and Jarah u.eca fields , while the figure for the Havana a r ea was higher. There has beer;. no a dditional d ::':'ill:ing in Jati bonico since E c h evarria # 19 was bottomed on M arch 15 , and d Yilling has b een halted by Cuban K ewan ee Oil C om-·?any on the onl y well in p roce ss at Jarahuec a. The Bac~J.:ranao or Cruz Ver de fi e ld p roduced an average of l l 6BOPD in Ma r c h 1956, the principal producers being SOE-Jose Candido #3 a nd Cruz Verd e ff.l. Jones-Thomas B ess #1 and Jones-Thomas Bess #2 produced an. a.v erag e of 104 BOPD. #l was shut down a consid erable p orti on of the m.onth ·because of l ack of stor-age space, but #2 \vas closed off for onl y a few days.
CUBAN KEWANEE OI L C OMPANY - EMPRESAS PETROLERAS JONES
Cuban Ke wanee Oil Company has mad e a n agreemen t with California ind epend-ent Ted Jon es and has m oved a National T32 rot ary on the Thomas B ess l ease to contint..e the deve lop m ent of that p r operty. F r .. rther d e ta ils will be announced :.r. a forthcoming issue of CPND.
A .r..ewsl etter from the brokerage fi rm o f Mendo za y d e la Torre, s t ates in part that a new Delaware c orporation called United Cuban Oil , Inc. , has been f ormed by the J one.s int erests . It is p l anned to offer to stockholders of C ia. Fomento Petrolero Ted Jones, S. A ., the opportunity to ex c hange shares in t hat com-?a:-~y for thos e of United C uban Oil, Inc. The latter company will own leases a.r:d prod uction in Cuba a nd the Uni t ed Stat es . The new c ompany p lans to .list :: :; stock on the American Stock Exchange after its applicat ion is appr oved by :::e Securities and Exchange Commi ~F>ion. Shares of United Cuban Oil , Inc. , -."i.:.l be offered in the United States a t $1. 2:.5 each . M eanwhile s hares of Cia. 4e F om er.to Pet rolero Ted Jones , S . A., are being offe red a t $0. 65 each with ;~ r-:.ght to exchange these O!"l. a share for shar e basis for stock of Unit ed .C::·...,_ ..,_ Q-_1, In c ., prior t o July • , 1936 . T l:i s pric e. i s S'..:..bjcct to change with o·.;.t -IIIIIG:ii.c e .
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No.1,
o Cloo~~o " I) 0
SOUTHERN BOUNDARY EVAPORITE FACIES
ATLANTIC PUNT I LLA No.I T. 0. 4, 0 34'
SHELL . PUNTA ALEGRE No. 2 T.D. 4,500'
SHELL PUNTA ALEGRE No.' l T. D. 2,156'
GULF HICACOS No. I T.D . 5,045'
(l~ d'~Q~
