GEOLOGY AND HYDROCARBON EXPLORATION POTENTIAL OF BELIZE

Belize, in Central America, is known for its numerous natural resources. Although companies are interested in investing in Belize for oil and gas exploration, the petroleum prospect is poorly understood, despite many studies that have been conducted to better understand the geology of Belize. Few studies have focused on the Northern area of Belize, which the focus of the present study.

The tectonic history of Belize began with the rifting of Pangaea, which resulted in the formation of new oceanic crust in an area adjacent to Belize, forming the Caribbean plate. Eastward movement of the Caribbean plate deformed the Central American region and is responsible for the structurally-controlled features such as the Maya Mountains, the offshore atolls, and the barrier reef.

Fieldwork was conducted in the St. Margaret’s Village area that exposes several stratigraphic intervals with a good petroleum potential, including the Jurassic Margaret Creek Formation and the Cretaceous Hillbank and Yalbac Formations. The depositional environment varies from terrestrial to shallow marine sabkha. The Hillbank and Yalbac Formations comprise of porous dolostones, potential reservoir rocks. Both Formations have anhydrite layers that have the potential to act as seal rocks. The lower section of the Hillbank Formation contains shale and sandstone beds, whereas the upper section of the Formation is pure dolostone. The Yalbac Formation is divided into three units: the lower unit is mainly dolostone, the middle is 50% anhydrite and 50% dolostone, and the upper unit is mainly anhydrite.

The research is ongoing, with GIS mapping of the field area, petrographic study of the carbonates and sandstones, and subsurface study of seismic data. The results will help in better understanding the petroleum potential of the study area.