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AAPG Bulletin

Abstract

DOI: 10.1306/05152221092

Assessing and processing three-dimensional photogrammetry, sedimentology, and geophysical data to build high-fidelity reservoir models based on carbonate outcrop analogues

Ahmad Ramdani,1 Pankaj Khanna,2 Gaurav Siddharth Gairola,3 Sherif Hanafy,4 and Volker Vahrenkamp5

1Ali Al-Naimi Petroleum Engineering Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia; [email protected]
2Ali Al-Naimi Petroleum Engineering Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia; present address: Earth Science, Indian Institute of Technology-Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India; [email protected]
3Ali Al-Naimi Petroleum Engineering Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia; [email protected]
4College of Petroleum Engineering and Geoscience, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; [email protected]
5Ali Al-Naimi Petroleum Engineering Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

A three-dimensional (3-D) outcrop depositional facies investigation of carbonate reservoir analogues requires a comprehensive integration of outcrop with “behind-the-outcrop” geophysical data. This study proposes a comprehensive methodology to assess, process, and synthesize photogrammetry, sedimentology, ground-penetrating radar (GPR), and seismic data sets based on the outcrop depositional facies framework. The methodology was tested and applied to map the 3-D morphology of the stromatoporoid-coral buildups in the Upper Jurassic Hanifa Formation reservoir analogue at Wadi Birk, Saudi Arabia. Data sets acquired include 1.2 km2 drone imageries; measured sections; 8-km-long networks of two-dimensional (2-D) GPR, three grids of 3-D GPR (60 × 50 m; 50 × 20 m; 55 × 40 m); 640-m-long 2-D seismic profile; and a 50-m-long core. We constructed a digital outcrop model (DOM) from drone imageries and calibrated it with measured sections. We measured dielectric permittivity, acoustic velocity, and bulk density to assess the geophysical properties of the target facies. We used DOM-based GPR and seismic models to assess the geophysical responses and formulate processing flows that accentuate anomalies from the stromatoporoid-coral facies. We used the proposed methodology to measure the 3-D morphology of the stromatoporoid-coral buildups quantitatively. The buildups are 3-D pseudo-ellipsoidal with an average long and short axis length of ∼36 and ∼11 m, respectively. The average thickness of the buildups is ∼2.6 m with ∼N335E orientation. We used these statistical measurements to construct an outcrop-based porosity model of the Hanifa reservoir analogue that honors the observed 3-D morphology of the stromatoporoid-coral facies.

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