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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Special Volumes
Abstract
Strohmenger, C. J., L. J. Weber, A. Ghani, K. Al-Mehsin, O. Al-Jeelani, A. Al-Mansoori, T. Al-Dayyani, L. Vaughan, S. A. Khan, and J. C. Mitchell, sequence
stratigraphy and reservoir characterization of Upper Thamama (Lower Cretaceous) Reservoirs of a giant Abu Dhabi oil field, United Arab Emirates, in P. M. Harris and L. J. Weber, eds.,Giant hydrocarbon reservoirs of the world: From rocks to reservoir characterization and modeling: AAPG Memoir 88/SEPM Special Publication, p.
DOI:10.1306/1215876M883271
2006 by The American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
High-resolution
Sequence
Stratigraphy and Reservoir Characterization of Upper Thamama (Lower Cretaceous) Reservoirs of a Giant Abu Dhabi Oil Field, United Arab Emirates
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Christian J. Strohmenger,1 L. Jim Weber,2 Ahmed Ghani,3 Khalil Al-Mehsin,4 Omar Al-Jeelani,5 Abdulla Al-Mansoori,6 Taha Al-Dayyani,7 Lee Vaughan,8 Sameer A. Khan,9 John C. Mitchell10
1Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
2ExxonMobil Exploration Company, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
3Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
4Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
5Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
6Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
7Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
8ExxonMobil Exploration Company, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
9ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
10ExxonMobil Exploration Company, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the managements of Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO), Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), and ExxonMobil Exploration Company for permission to publish this study. We thank Prasad Patannakara (ADCO) and his team for drafting the figures. Appreciation is extended to Ismail Al-Mansouri, Majeed Haq, Mohammed Hilal, Hassan Ahmed, and Abdulsalam Khoury from ADCO core facility (Mussafah) for their help in preparing and laying out the core material and for preparing thin sections. Sean A. Guidry, Christine I. Gonzalez, Martin A. Herrmann, Lisa A. Roehl, Chengije Liu, Susan M. Agar, Jerry J. Kendall, and Mike G. Kozar (ExxonMobil), as well
as Andrew Clark, Srikant Guruswamy, Hafez H. Hafez, Jorge S. Gomes, Michel J.-M. Rebelle, William L. Soroka, and Mohammed Ayoub (ADCO) are thanked for their valuable discussions. We extend special thanks to Omar Suwaina (ADNOC) for his valuable contributions to this study. We appreciate the helpful comments and suggestions of reviewers Jos
E. de Matos, J
rgen Gr
tsch, and Jonathan Kaufman, which greatly improved the manuscript.
ABSTRACT
Important hydrocarbon accumulations occur in platform carbonates of the Lower Cretaceous Kharaib (Barremian and early Aptian) and Shuaiba (Aptian) formations (upper Thamama Group) of Abu Dhabi. The Kharaib and Lower Shuaiba formations contain three reservoir units separated by three low-porosity and low-permeability dense zones. From base to top, the thickness of the reservoir intervals range from approximately 80, 170, to 55 ft (24, 51, to 16 m), respectively, for the Lower Kharaib, Upper Kharaib, and Lower Shuaiba Reservoir Units. Core and well
-
log
data of a giant oil field of Abu Dhabi, as
well
as outcrop data from Wadi Rahabah in the Emirate of Ras Al-Khaimah were used to establish a
sequence
-stratigraphic framework and a lithofacies scheme, applicable to all three reservoir units and the three dense zones.
The Lower and Upper Kharaib Reservoir Units, as well
as the lower, middle, and upper dense zones are part of the late transgressive
sequence
set of a second-order supersequence, made up of two third-order composite sequences. The overlying Lower Shuaiba Reservoir Unit belongs to the late transgressive
sequence
set and the early highstand
sequence
set of this second-order supersequence and is made up of one third-order composite
sequence
. The three third-order composite sequences are composed of 19 fourth-order parasequence sets that show predominantly aggradational and progradational stacking patterns, typical of greenhouse cycles. Conventionally, composite
sequence
boundaries are placed at or near the base of the three dense zones. As an alternative scenario, the possibility that the major composite
sequence
boundaries actually occur on top of these dense zones is discussed.
On the basis of faunal content, texture, sedimentary structures, and lithologic composition, 13 reservoir lithofacies and 8 nonreservoir (dense) lithofacies are identified from core. Similar lithofacies are identified in time-equivalent rock exposures studied in Wadi Rahabah. Depositional environments of reservoir units range from lower ramp to shoal crest to near-back shoal open-platform deposits. Dense zones were deposited in an inner-ramp, restricted shallow-lagoonal setting. Intensively bioturbated wackestone and packstone, and interbedded organic- and siliciclastic-rich limestone, characterize the dense zones. Locally, mud cracks, blackened grains, and rootlets are observed.
Outcrop analogs of subsurface reservoirs allow for a detailed investigation of facies architecture and structure of carbonate bodies. Integration of subsurface and outcrop data (e.g., low-angle clinoforms that cannot be seen in core data) leads to more insightful and realistic geological models of subsurface stratigraphy. Geological model realizations based on core, outcrop, well
-
log
, and seismic data constrain fluid flow-simulation models. Results mimic known behavior in analogous producing fields, and the process of going from rock data to simulation provides a useful training tool for reservoir characterization methods and techniques.
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