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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Bulletin
Abstract
AAPG Bulletin, V.
2011. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.
DOI:10.1306/11191010069
Use of outcrop observations, geostatistical analysis, and flow simulation to investigate structural controls on secondary hydrocarbon migration in the Anacacho Limestone, Uvalde, Texas
Christopher E. Wilson,1 Atilla Aydin,2 Louis J. Durlofsky,3 Alexandre Boucher,4 Darrell T. Brownlow5
1Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305; present address: Chevron North America Exploration and Production, 1500 Louisiana Street, Houston, Texas 77002; [email protected]
2Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305; [email protected]
3Department of Energy Resources Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305; [email protected]
4Department of Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305; present address: Advanced Resources and Risk Technology LLC, Sunnyvale, California; [email protected]
5Mining and Resource Management, CEMEX USA, Houston, Texas; [email protected]
ABSTRACT
We undertake a multidisciplinary investigation into the distribution of asphalt in the Anacacho Limestone in an effort to decipher the potential roles of fractures and faults on secondary hydrocarbon migration. Field relationships between fractures, faults, and asphalt are evaluated at an asphaltic limestone mine near Uvalde, Texas. Based on their distributions, geometries, and structural relationships, we infer that normal faults provided vertical flow paths through the Anacacho Limestone, whereas strata-bound fractures enhanced lateral permeability. Variograms calculated from 75 subsurface measurements indicate that the asphalt concentration is anisotropically correlated and that the longest correlation length points in the mean strike direction of fractures and faults. A globally positioned laser rangefinder is used to measure faults and stratigraphic contacts within the mine. That data are then combined with lithologic descriptions from surrounding subsurface wells to construct a three-dimensional (3-D) model of the Anacacho Limestone. When an ordinary block-kriging algorithm populates the model with asphalt concentration estimates, the high values align along a trend that connects the two largest normal fault zones at the mine. The 3-D model provides a framework to numerically simulate secondary hydrocarbon migration. We test numerous hydrocarbon migration scenarios by adjusting simulation parameters within physically realistic ranges until producing an oil saturation field that agrees with asphalt concentration estimates. Our best match simulation indicates that oil entered the Anacacho Limestone through normal faults, that regional aquifer flow impacted oil flow, and that fractures increased the horizontal permeability of the formation by an order of magnitude along their strike direction.
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