AAPG Bulletin, V. 84, No. 2 (February 2000), P. 157-173.
Storms Consolidated Field, Illinois Basin: Identifying New
Reserves in a Mature Area (E & P Notes)Scott L. Montgomery1 and Hannes E. Leetaru2©Copyright 2000. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights
reserved. 1Petroleum Consultant, 1511 18th Avenue East, Seattle, Washington 98112;
e-mail:
[email protected] 2Geologist, Illinois State Geological Survey, Natural Resources Building, 615
East Peabody Drive, Champaign, Illinois 61820-6964.
Gratitude is expressed to Richard Rice and other colleagues at the Illinois State
Geological Survey and to Landmark Graphics for use of their software. This research was
partially supported by the U.S. Department of Energy. Publication authorized by the chief,
Illinois State Geological Survey. ABSTRACT
Discovered in 1939, Storms Consolidated field in the central Illinois basin has
produced approximately 24.5 million bbl oil, mainly from Mississippian sandstone
reservoirs, yet may contain significant remaining reserves. The field produces from a
combination structural-stratigraphic trap along the upthrown side of a major normal fault
trend. Although the principal reservoir zone, the Waltersburg Sandstone, is mostly
depleted, another important interval, the Aux Vases Sandstone, appears underexploited in
many parts of the field. Description and analysis of the only continuous core through the
Aux Vases has led to the identification of major lithofacies and their characterization in
terms of reservoir quality. The Aux Vases appears to represent a series of shallow marine
bars separated by nonreservoir areas of siltstone, shale, and shaly sandstone. Log-based
mapping of reservoir distribution, plus production and pressure data, indicates
significant lateral and vertical compartmentalization of the reservoir. Although
insufficient data exist for full-scale integrated reservoir characterization studies, a
trend surface analysis was performed on structural information across the field. The
results of this analysis were compared with reservoir distribution maps to identify areas
for future drilling or recompletion.
