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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
Houston Geological Society Bulletin
Abstract
Abstract: Risking Fault Seals in the Gulf of Mexico: A Joint Industry Study
By
SEALS International
An analysis of more than 200 faults in a
joint-industry study of the Gulf Coast provides
a database of actual fault seal
behavior
in producing fields. This empirical database
demonstrates that fault
seal
behavior
is predictable rather than random and
that faults are more important than is commonly
thought in controlling hydrocarbon
accumulations. Quantitative fault
seal
analysis has demonstrated that the behavior
of seals is empirically related to the
amount of sand and shale incorporated in
the fault zone. Faults with sand-rich gouge
leak, and faults with shale-rich gouge
seal
.
An empirically defined threshold allows
prediction of fault seal
behavior with a high
degree of confidence. Fewer than 10% of
the faults in the Gulf Coast are exceptions
to the rule. Exceptions are a result of other
factors, including low permeability and
high displacement pressure sands and thin-bedded
sand/shale sequences.
Examples from these Gulf Coast fields
demonstrate the fundamental importance of
faults in controlling hydrocarbon accumulations.
Faults and fault seal
behavior control
the presence or absence of hydrocarbons,
percent fill, hydrocarbon column
heights, entrapment of oil versus gas, and
high-side and low-side trap risk. Faults control
the lateral distribution of hydrocarbons
within fault compartments, as well as the
vertical distribution of hydrocarbons among
stacked sands. Faults control fluid flow
during both field development and hydrocarbon
migration. Bypassed residual accumulations
and unnecessary production
wells result from neglecting routine fault
seal
analysis during field development. Dry
holes and mistaken assessments of reserves
result from neglecting routine fault
seal
analysis during exploration.
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