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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
Houston Geological Society Bulletin
Abstract
Abstract: Prediction of Reservoir Architecture in Carbonate Systems
By
Bureau of Economic Geology
Jackson School of Geosciences
University of Texas at Austin
Carbonate reservoirs hold more than half of the world’s
remaining hydrocarbon resource base. Much of this
resource is well
delineated in terms of in-place volumetrics, but
major hurdles still exist in terms of maximizing the recovery
efficiency of this resource. With more than 70 years of carbonate
reservoir development in basins like the Permian basin of West
Texas, both major and independent oil producers have arrived at
an important conclusion—carbonate reservoirs are complex!
Recovery efficiencies rarely exceed 30 percent through secondary
recovery. Tertiary recovery can be effective in many fields,
but an equal number are probably unsuited. The additive effect
of depositional, diagenetic and structural
heterogeneities contribute to the mystique
that is carbonate reservoir development and
the through-going message is that these systems
must be unraveled one reservoir at a time.
Notwithstanding this complexity, observations
from a wide range of reservoirs have
led to important generalizations regarding
our ability to predict reservoir style and
substantially improve static reservoir model
construction.
Prediction of stratigraphic architecture and heterogeneity style in
carbonate reservoirs has advanced greatly over the past decade.
Integration of core, log
and seismic data, aided by outcrop
analogs, has proved to be the most successful approach to unraveling
the stratigraphic or “matrix” plumbing systems of
carbonate fields.
Sequence
concepts such as accommodation history
and Milankovitch setting are important, but geologically
oriented petrophysical
analysis
and seismic processing are both
critical for proper delineation of the 3D reservoir model.
Examples of heterogeneity styles and reservoir architectures
found in greenhouse, transitional and icehouse settings, with
examples from the Middle East, U.S., and other areas will provide
examples of how reservoir architectures can be predicted, analyzed
and converted into 3D models.
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