White Tiger oil field 4294087 224053816 2008-07-07T02:48:58Z NJGW 6012605 correct statement to what source says, removed unsourced claim The '''White Tiger oilfield''' (also Bach Ho) is a major oilfield in the Cuu Long basin of the [[South China Sea]] located offshore due east of the [[Mekong Delta]] of [[Vietnam]]. The field contains major reserves hosted within highly fractured granitic basement rocks. The Cuu Long basin is a [[rift]] zone developed during the [[Oligocene]] to Early [[Miocene]]. The rift occurred in [[Jurassic]] to Late [[Cretaceous]] [[granite]] to [[granodiorite]] intrusions.<ref name=Nguyen>Nguyen Du Hung and Hung Van Le, ''Petroleum Geology of Cuu Long Basin - Offshore Vietnam'', Search and Discovery Article #10062 (2004), http://www.searchanddiscovery.net/documents/2004/hung/index.htm </ref><ref>Tatyana Nickolaevna Nemchenko, ''Oil in Granites on Example of White Tiger Field, Vietnam'', AAPG & AAPG European Region Energy Conference and Exhibition (November 18-21, 2007) Technical Program (abstract) http://aapg.confex.com/aapg/2007int/techprogram/A113544.htm </ref> The fractured granitic rocks occur as a [[horst]] overlain and surrounded by Upper Oligocene [[lacustrine]] [[shale]] source rocks.<ref name=Nguyen/> White Tiger is not the only oil field convincingly shown to be hosted in granite;<ref name=geofrc>http://www.geoscience.co.uk/geofrc/geobaseasia.html Basement reservoirs in Asia</ref> however, inspection of the seismic profile of the area shows [[Fault (geology)|faulted]] basement passive margin which is sealed by an onlapping [[sedimentary]] sequence.<ref name=AAPG/><ref>Hydrocarbons in Crystalline Rocks, 242 pages, Geological Society of London; (January 2003) ISBN: 1862391378</ref> It is plausible that the oil has migrated laterally from the lowermost, mature sediments into the fault systems within the granite. The [[seismic]] profile shows a definite basement [[Horst (geology)|horst]] with onlapping sedimentary [[source rock]]s, draped by a reservoir seal.<ref>http://www.aapg.org/explorer/2005/02feb/vietnamcuulong.cfm CuuLong</ref> This trap view would see the oil migrate up the horst bounding faults from the lower source units, into the trap unit draped over the top. The White Tiger field was developed by the joint Vietnamese Russian entity Vietsovpetro, in the 1980s and 1990s,<ref name=geofrc/> using the methodology of abiogenic oil.{{Fact|date=June 2008}} However, upon examination of the source rock and oil content, petrogeologists have emphasized that the oil's components indicate a [[lacustrine]] organic [[facies]] with lipid-rich, land-plant debris and fresh-water algal material, refuting theories of abiogenic origin in this area.<ref name=AAPG/> Petroleum samples from the White Tiger oilfield contain biomarkers which "indicate a lacustrine organic facies with lipid-rich, land-plant debris and fresh-water algal material," which indicate that it is of biological origin.<ref name=AAPG>http://www.aapg.org/explorer/2005/02feb/vietnam.cfm</ref> == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:Oil fields in Vietnam]] {{oilfield-stub}} {{vietnam-stub}}