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Abstract
Mitch
Harris, and G. P. Eberli
2004. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.
Accommodation-controlled Systems-tract
specific Facies Partitioning and Resulting Geometric Development of Reservoir Grainstone Ramp-crest Shoal Bodies
Victoria L. French,1 Charles Kerans2
1ConocoPhillips Calgary, Alberta, Canada
2Bureau of Economic Geology, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, U.S.A.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to graciously thank Texaco Exploration Production, Midland, Texas for providing generous financial assistance and data to the dissertation work that resulted in the subsurface portion of this paper. In addition, the authors acknowledge the contributions of the following people who were instrumental to the work provided here: William M. Fitchen, Emily Stoudt, Greg Hinterlong; Susan Longacre, Mike Grammer, Kim Moore; Jerry Lucia, and Steve Ruppel.
ABSTRACT
High-resolution sequence
-stratigraphic study from outcrop analogs and from the subsurface West Jordan San Andres unit shows that both stochastic and deterministic reservoir models can be greatly improved by accounting for (1) systems-tract–specific facies partitioning and (2) use of outcrop-based object data from comparable stratigraphic/accommodation settings. The application of systems-tract–specific facies partitioning was first described by Kerans and Fitchen along the Algerita Escarpment in the Guadalupe Mountains of west Texas and New Mexico. Both outcrop and subsurface models illustrate a high degree of facies-dependent compartmentalization in San Andres carbonates as a result of a varying accommodation setting. Lateral changes in ramp-crest facies tracts parallel (along strike) and perpendicular to the dipping ramp platform should be expected in highstand and prograding tide-dominated sequences as defined by the position in the
sequence
framework through the use of systems-tract–specific facies partitioning. This study documents the degree of vertical and lateral heterogeneities that should be expected in reservoirs producing from highstand shoal complexes and also provides a predictive geometric relationship between shoal-body maximum thickness and expected maximum dip dimension. The determination of connectivity in productive shoal bodies is of utmost importance when designing secondary and tertiary recovery projects; therefore, having a method to predict shoal extent based on maximum thickness will provide a valuable tool for reservoir characterization in the San Andres. In addition, within the West Jordan unit, chronostratigraphic relationships were also found to control pore-type distribution as related to migrating facies tracts. Whereas many facies exhibit high porosity values, permeability ranges are abrupt in varying facies tracts.
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