DBC: Are you asking me what an oiltrap is? In Beli

DBC: Are you asking me what an oiltrap is? In Belize the trap is created by the sediments sitting at an angle with one of the layers consiting of anhydrite (we are discussing facies geology) ,,,  a marine/marsh salt barrier, which prevents the hydrobarbons from migrating further through the tilted rock, now indurated, typically with a water base, this is particularly true in a field which actually abuts upon a marine environment. The water is fresh because it is less dense than the seawater. The fresh water floats on the saltwater, and the oil floats on the water (usually). In Texas we have salt traps conisiting of typical NaCl possibly embedded with anhydrites too, which will literally bloom up through a weak spot in the sediments forming  barrier when it flattens out or mushrooms when it hits a hard contiguous ceiling (imagine squeezing some toothpaste against the ceiling of your bathroom). The oil is trapped around the edges. But in Belize the "picture" provided in Treaty's website press release is probably pretty accurate and explains why we ran into all the water once we entered the vuggy limestone. Its the same rock probably but there is an aqueous separation among the fluids contained in the rock, allowing us to identify a window of hydrocarbons to possibly tap into.

A classic oiltrap is called an anticline and that is a layer cake with a big upward fold in the middle, allowing the gas and oil to migrate to the top, which is what seismic 3-D geophysicists are always looking for. ...   Oiljob