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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Special Volumes

Abstract

Chapter from:
AAPG Memoir 67: Seals, Traps, and the Petroleum System, Edited by R. C. Surdam
(Publication Subject: Oil Methodology, Concepts)
AAPG Memoir 67: Seals, Traps, and the Petroleum System. Chapter 9: Fault Leak Controlled Trap Fill: Rift Basin Examples , by D.M. Allard, Pages 135-142

Copyright © 1997 by The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

Chapter 9

Fault Leak Controlled Trap Fill: Rift Basin Examples

D.M. Allard

Exxon Ventures (CIS) Inc. Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT

Interpretation of fault leak and seal enhances the understanding of hydrocarbon reservoir systems. Useful applications exist for both field development and seal risk evaluation for undrilled exploration prospects.

Basic fault seal data (e.g., logs, lithology from wells, stratigraphic models of lithology variation away from well control, interpretations of bed juxtapositions across the fault plane, and basic well test results) are needed for the interpreter to resolve the puzzle of trap fill limits and possible different reservoir systems within the same faulted field. Interpretation of both productive and tested wet structures allows for the development of conclusions that may be applicable to different proven or potential traps across the basin.

A refined understanding of trap fill limits and hydrocarbon distribution within a field may be gained by interpretation and calibration of fault gouge as a seal on a basinwide basis. Evaluation of fault gouge as a seal with the displaced section analysis methodology is labor intensive and may not always be an effective exploration tool, considering the data control needed to develop reliable results.

In exploration, the quality of fault seal interpretation for an undrilled structure is dependent on map quality, well control, and the ability to predict stratigraphic facies changes away from wells. The minimum calibration requirement for exploration applications of a fault seal interpretation of an undrilled structure is to have completed interpretations of bed juxtapositions across the fault plane(s) for both productive and nonproductive structures elsewhere in the basin.

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