About This Item

Share This Item

The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Bulletin

Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 89, No. 2 (February 2005), P. 231-254.

Copyright copy2005. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

DOI:10.1306/08040403083

The role of outcrop geology in predicting reservoir presence in the Cretaceous and Paleocene successions of the Sulaiman Range, Pakistan

Roy Fitzsimmons,1 James Buchanan,2 Chris Izatt3

1BHPBilliton (Americas), Trinidad and Tobago, 1360 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 150, Houston, Texas 77056-3020; [email protected]
2ConocoPhillips, 600 N. Dairy Ashford, Houston, Texas 77079
3British Gas Trinidad amp Tobago Ltd, BG House, 5 St. Clair Avenue, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

AUTHORS

Roy Fitzsimmons received a B.Sc. in geology from Glasgow University and a Ph.D. in sedimentology/sequence stratigraphy from Liverpool University. After working with British Gas he joined Conoco in 1996, as part of the reservoir prediction group. For 5 years he worked global deep-water depositional systems before spending 3 years as a regional geologist studying the Mid-Norway Atlantic Margin. Recently Roy joined BHPBilliton to work exploration and appraisal in Trinidad.

James Buchanan received a B.Sc. in geology from Queen's University, Belfast, and a Ph.D. in structural geology from Royal Holloway, University of London. After working at the British Geological Survey and Core Laboratories for several years, he joined British Gas to participate in their exploration and development programs. Since 1996, he has worked at ConocoPhillips on a wide range of global exploration projects.

Chris Izatt has a B.Sc. in geology and Ph.D. in structural geology from Imperial College London. Since joining British Gas (BG) he has worked on several international and domestic projects. He is currently based in the BG Trinidad office.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank BG Group, OGDC, and Monument Oil and Gas for permission to publish this work. Fieldwork was carried out in 1995ndash1996, when British Gas employed Fitzsimmons and Buchanan. Shaheed Hassan Khan of the Geological Survey of Pakistan acted as field assistant. The reviewers, Brian Horn, Michael Sweet, and Howard White are thanked for their reviews from which this paper has greatly benefited. Finally, thanks is given to the liaison officers, drivers, cooks, and levies who made the field work pass without problem and without whom this work could never have been accomplished. Their kindness, sense of humor, and appreciation of a good cup of char made this study a pleasure to participate in.

ABSTRACT

Hydrocarbon exploration in remote, mountainous regions commonly creates a logistical challenge. Remote sensing methods are used to gain an understanding of the geologic evolution of an area. However, over-reliance on these techniques has commonly precluded finer scale observations made in the field, which can significantly reduce exploration risk. The Sulaiman concession lies in the Sulaiman Range, which forms part of the Himalayan fold and thrust belt in the Baluchistan province of northwest Pakistan. Rugged exposures, developed in this semiarid area, provide excellent outcrops of the principal stratigraphy of interest in the concession. To reduce uncertainty associated with reservoir presence, the Upper Cretaceous to lower Paleocene Mughal Kot, Pab, and Ranikot formations were studied. Detailed (centimeter-scale), sedimentological observations enabled the depositional context of these units to be resolved. By recognizing abrupt dislocations in facies tracts and changes in depositional architecture, a low-order stratigraphic framework was established. Furthermore, local, candidate high-frequency surfaces were recognized, which gave an insight into the processes active in the individual facies tracts during periods of relative base-level change. These observations resulted in an integrated model that was used to predict reservoir presence in the Mirawah structure.

Pay-Per-View Purchase Options

The article is available through a document delivery service. Explain these Purchase Options.

Watermarked PDF Document: $14
Open PDF Document: $24

AAPG Member?

Please login with your Member username and password.

Members of AAPG receive access to the full AAPG Bulletin Archives as part of their membership. For more information, contact the AAPG Membership Department at [email protected].