The sedimentary basins of western Venezuela contain large volumes of oil. However, most of the large structures have already been produced. Exploration for new reserves of light and medium oil now depends on integrated studies that lead to a more comprehensive basin evaluation. This paper presents an integrated account of the Lake Maracaibo and Barinas-Apure basins of western Venezuela. It is a fully integrated study but focuses on the genetic and seismic stratigraphy of more than 600 wells, reference outcrops, and 4000 km of reflection seismic data.

Six unconformity-bounded supersequences record the dynamics of Mesozoic-Cenozoic basin evolution from extension...