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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Bulletin

Abstract


Volume: 67 (1983)

Issue: 3. (March)

First Page: 468

Last Page: 468

Title: Significance of Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy for Evaluating Shallow Gas Reservoirs from Bowdoin Dome, Montana: ABSTRACT

Author(s): Donald L. Gautier, Dudley D. Rice

Article Type: Meeting abstract

Abstract:

Natural gas is currently being produced from shallow gas reservoirs of Late Cretaceous age in the Bowdoin dome area, north-central Montana. Clay-rich rocks of the Mosby Sandstone Member of the Belle Fourche Shale, the Greenhorn Formation, and the Carlile Shale are the principal reservoirs. Laterally equivalent rocks are major producers of gas in southeastern Alberta. The Mosby consists of composite bedsets of lenticular to wavy-bedded sandstone and dark-gray shale. The Greenhorn, which unconformably overlies the Mosby, is as much as 40 ft (12 m) thick and consists of black, organic carbon-rich (as much as 9% organic carbon) shales, bentonites, and calcarenties consisting mainly of inoceramid prisms. Lateral equivalents of the Greenhorn are probably the principal source be s for oil occurrences farther west in the Montana disturbed belt. The Carlile Shale overlies the Greenhorn with apparent conformity and is lithologically similar to the Mosby. However, the Carlile mudstones contain more smectitic mixed-layer clays than those of the Mosby.

Exploration and production of hydrocarbons from these clay-rich rocks present significant problems in log interpretation and in well completion and treatment procedures. In an effort to address these problems, a detailed geochemical, petrologic, mineralogical, and stratigraphic study was undertaken to characterize the gas-productive formations at Bowdoin dome and to evaluate the usefulness of natural gamma-ray spectroscopy for interpreting geology and reservoir quality. The gamma-ray spectral log resolves the total gamma-ray spectrum into the three most common components of radiation--gamma rays from 40K, U-series decay, and Th-series decay. In principle, the log can be used to determine clay content, clay composition, source-bed richness, and lithology. Results of this inv stigation suggest that the log successfully estimated organic-carbon content, identified bentonites, and located the unconformity at the base of the Greenhorn. In addition, subtle differences in clay composition between the Belle Fourche and Carlile Shales were apparent. These differences in clay mineralogy have important implications for interpreting the irreducible water saturation and water sensitivity of the formations and thus for the choice of drilling and completion techniques.

Detailed analyses of individual core samples provide much more accurate information about single point samples than did interpretations of single points from the spectral log. However, analyses of individual core samples only distinguish mineralogical or geochemical deviations with frequencies greater than two times the sampling interval. In contrast, the log provided a running average capable of resolving relatively small-scale fluctuations and displayed considerable precision and accuracy when calibrated to laboratory analyses. In conclusion, gamma-ray spectroscopy provides a potentially important tool for the investigation of unconventional gas reservoirs and source beds in clay-rich and organic carbon-rich rocks.

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Copyright 1997 American Association of Petroleum Geologists