THE INFLUENCE OF COMPOSITION, DIAGENESIS AND COMPACTION ON SEAL CAPACITY IN THE MUDERONG SHALE, CARNARVON BASIN

2004 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 201 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.E. Kovack ◽  
D.N. Dewhurst ◽  
M.D. Raven ◽  
J.G. Kaldi

The Muderong Shale blankets most of the northern Carnarvon Basin and is the top seal to over 90% of all commercial discoveries. This study examines the influence that vertical effective stress, mineralogy and diagenesis have on regional variations of seal capacity. Throughout the basin, threshold pressures (determined from Mercury Injection Capillary Pressure (MICP) analyses), range from less than 1,000 psi (equivalent to ~100 m gas column) up to 10,000 psi (~1,000 m gas column). Because the Muderong Shale varies in thickness (5 m to >900 m) and burial depth (~0.5–3.5 km), effective stresses and temperatures also vary. Effective stress and temperature significantly control pore geometry at different depths through compaction and diagenesis. The data from this study show that shale grain size has no direct influence over seal threshold pressure except that finer-grained Muderong Shale (36–45% particles 2.5 km) along the Northern Alpha Arch and Rankin Platform, total illite content is only moderate.

2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 375
Author(s):  
Iko Sagala ◽  
Mark Tingay

The Northern Carnarvon Basin is one of Australia’s most prolific hydrocarbon basins. Overpressure has been encountered in numerous wells drilled in the Northern Carnarvon Basin. Knowledge of overpressure distribution is important for drilling and exploration strategies, and understanding the origin of overpressure is essential for applying reliable pore pressure prediction techniques. Unconventional pore pressure indicators—primarily drilling kicks and the presence of connection gas—were used to improve an updated distribution of overpressure and to investigate the origin of overpressure in the Northern Carnarvon Basin. This unconventional dataset was compiled from 45 wells. Overpressures are observed in 40 wells and tend to occur near, or on, the Rankin Platform, Alpha Arch, and Barrow Trend. The presence of overpressure in this area coincides with the region of maximum Cenozoic deposition. Overpressured strata in the Northern Carnarvon Basin occurs through a wide stratigraphic range, from Late Triassic to Paleocene sequences. Generally, post Paleocene sequences in the Northern Carnarvon Basin are considered to be normally pressured. Porosity-vertical effective stress analysis in shale lithologies was used to investigate the origin of overpressure in the Northern Carnarvon Basin. Porosity-vertical effective stress plots from 28 wells in the Northern Carnarvon Basin identified 20 wells where the overpressure appears to be generated by disequilibrium compaction, and eight wells where the overpressure appears to be generated by a component of fluid expansion. Disequilibrium compaction mechanisms were the predominant cause of overpressure in wells around the Rankin Platform and areas located further away from the coast. Conversely, fluid expansion mechanisms were the predominant cause of overpressure in wells around the Alpha Arch and Bambra Trend, and an area located closer to the coast. These results broadly confirm those obtained from earlier studies and highlight the usefulness of kick and connection gas data in overpressure analysis.


2015 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Azam Ghazi ◽  
Naser Hafezi Moghadas ◽  
Hosein Sadeghi ◽  
Mohamad Ghafoori ◽  
Gholam Reza Lashkaripur

<p>Shear wave velocity, V<sub>s</sub>, is one of the important input parameters in seismic response analysis of the ground. Various methods have been examined to measure the soil V<sub>s</sub> directly. Direct measurement of V<sub>s</sub> is time consuming and costly, therefore many researchers have been trying to update empirical relationships between V<sub>s</sub> and other geotechnical properties of soils such as SPT Blow count, SPT-N. In this study the existence of a statistical relationship between V<sub>s</sub>, SPT-N<sub>60 </sub>and vertical effective stress, signa<sub>nu</sub>´, is investigated. Data set we used in this study was gathered from geotechnical and geophysical investigations reports. The data have been extracted from more than 130 numbers of geotechnical boreholes from different parts of Mashhad city. In each borehole the V<sub>s</sub> has been measured by downhole method at two meter intervals. The SPT test also has performed at the same depth. Finally relationships were developed by regression analysis for gravels, sands and fine grain soils. The proposed relationships indicate that V<sub>s</sub> is strongly dependent on signa<sub>nu</sub>´. In this paper the effect of fine percent also is considered on the V<sub>s</sub> estimation.</p>


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teng Li ◽  
Caifang Wu

With a burial depth of 1000 m as the demarcation, the coal reservoir in South Yanchuan Block, China is divided into deep reservoir and shallow reservoir regions. A combination of coalbed methane well production data, well logging interpretation, coalbed methane numerical simulations and reservoir properties were used to research various production characteristics at different depths. The results indicate that coal thickness and gas content are not key factors that influence methane production. The shallow reservoir is located in a tension zone, while the deep reservoir is located in both a transformation zone and a compression zone. Although the reservoir and closure pressures increase with the burial depth, the pressures fluctuate in the deep reservoir, especially in the transformation zone. This fluctuation influences the opened degree of the fractures in the reservoir. The effective stress is lower in the deep reservoir than in the shallow reservoir, leading to higher permeability in the deep reservoir. This difference in effective stress is the key factor that influences the methane production. The combination of coal thickness and gas content also significantly influenced the methane production. Influenced by the reservoir and closure pressures, the Type III coal in the shallow reservoir is more developed, while the deep reservoir contained more developed Type I and Type II coal. The permeability increases exponentially with increasing thickness of Type I and Type II coal, which determines the high reservoir permeability in the deep reservoir. The development of Type III coal leads to the poor reservoir hydraulic fracturing effect. However, a reservoir with thick Type I and Type II coal can have a positive effect. Influencia de la presión, la estructura del carbón y su permeabilidad sobre la productividad de gas metano de carbón en profundidades de enterramiento del bloque Yanchuan Sur, ChinaResumenCon una profundidad de enterramiento de 1000 metros, el yacimiento de carbón del bloque Yanchuan Sur, en China, se divide en dos: el depósito profundo y el depósito superficial. Este trabajo combina los datos de la información de producción de gas metano asociado carbón, la interpretación de registros de pozo, las simulaciones numéricas de metano asociado a carbón y las propiedades del reservorio para encontrar las características de producción a diferentes profundidades. Los resultados indican que el espesor del carbón y el contenido de gas no son factores que alcancen a influir en la producción de metano. El depósito superficial se encuentra en una zona de tensión, mientras el depósito profundo está ubicado en una región tanto de transformación como de compresión. Aunque el reservorio y la presión de cierre se incrementan con la profundidad de enterramiento, las presiones fluctúan en el depósito profundo, especialmente en la zona de transformación. Esta fluctuación influye en el grado de apertura de las fracturas en el depósito. La tensión efectiva es más baja en el depósito profundo, lo que significa una mayor permeabilidad. La diferencia en la tensión efectiva es el factor clave que incide en la producción de metano. Afectado por las presiones de cierre y del yacimiento, el carbón tipo III en el depósito superficial está más desarrollado, mientras que el depósito profundo contiene carbón tipo I y tipo II más desarrollado. La permeabilidad se incrementa exponencialmente con el incremento del espesor en el carbón tipo I y tipo II, lo que determina la alta porosidad en el depósito profundo. El desarrollo de carbón tipo III lleva a un pobre efecto de la fractura hidráulica en el depósito. Sin embargo, un depósito con carbón tipo I y tipo II espeso podría tener un efecto positivo.


1998 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 1131-1145
Author(s):  
A. E. Stephenson ◽  
J. E. Blevin ◽  
B. G. West

2001 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 367 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.R. Kaiko ◽  
A.M. Tait

The subsidence history of the Northern Carnarvon Basin has been dominated by simple thermal sag following the creation of the Exmouth, Barrow and Dampier Sub-basins by Early to Middle Jurassic rifting. This conclusion follows from the recognition of vitrinite reflectance suppression, which removes the need for recent heating events, and from the use of seismic stratigraphy, rather than only palynology and micro-palaeontology, to determine palaeo-water depths.The simple thermal-sag model, related to Jurassic rifting, accounts for the post-rift sedimentary architecture of the Northern Carnarvon Basin, especially in areas of sediment starvation. It also has implications for the timing of hydrocarbon generation and the reconstruction of migration pathways. This work has re-emphasised the theoretical possibility of determining palaeo-water depths by adjusting one-dimensional basin models to fit simple thermal sag tectonic subsidence curves.Miocene uplift, in the order of several hundred metres, has caused local basin inversion, accentuated some preexisting structures and re-activated some faults causing hydrocarbon remigration, but has otherwise not affected the thermal history of the sediments.


1985 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 154 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Kopsen ◽  
G. McGann

The most completely known section of the Barrow- Dampier Sub-basin in the northern Carnarvon Basin of the Northwest Shelf comprises three depositional super- cycles spanning the Triassic to the Tertiary. Each cycle is made up of an initial transgressive section of mainly fine-grained clastics overlain by a thick, extensive, off- lapping sequence of coarse-grained deposits. The transgressive sedimentary package typically contains a coarse basal unit overlain by a thick, argillaceous unit, whereas the progradational package changes character in each cycle, representing increasingly open marine conditions as the depocentre and its palaeogeography evolved. Continental siliciciastics at the end of the Triassic Supercycle contrast with the marine-marginal marine siliciciastics at the end of the Jurassic-Neocomian Supercycle and the prograding Tertiary carbonate wedge of the youngest cycle. Each of these gross sequences has a distinctive seismic signature upon which are superimposed stratigraphic features reflecting basin evolution from a broad intra-continental depocentre to a mature, passive continental margin basin.In the area east of Barrow Island, potential hydrocarbon source rock quality and richness varies between each cycle but potential source beds frequently occur at similar levels within each supercycle. The Dingo Claystone within the Jurassic-Neocomian depositional package contains by far the thickest and most extensive potential sources in the area and is likely to be the source for most of the hydrocarbon liquids discovered to date in the northern Carnarvon Basin (with the probable exclusion of the majority of the Rankin Platform condensates).The occurrence of oils of mixed composition and considerable variability beneath the Muderong Shale regional seal in areas of low thermal maturity suggests that many of the hydrocarbon liquids have undergone considerable vertical migration and have also a complex genesis. Furthermore, saturate-rich liquid hydrocarbons overprinting an older biodegraded oil are recognised in a number of wells along the basin margin hingeline. The likely migration and entrapment model for the majority of hydrocarbons discovered to date in the area under review involves dynamic charging of reservoirs, mainly during the Tertiary. Two main pulses of generation and migration are recognised in the eastern portion of the sub -basin, and a third phase is probably occuring at present-day, west of Barrow Island.


2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingda Dong ◽  
Xuedong Shi ◽  
Jie bai ◽  
Zhilong Yang ◽  
Zhilin Qi

Abstract Stress sensitivity phenomenon is an important property in low-permeability and tight reservoirs and has a large impact on the productivity of production wells, which is defined as the effect of effective stress on the reservoir parameters such as permeability, threshold pressure gradient, and rock compressibility change accordingly. Most of the previous works are focused on the effect of effective stress on permeability and threshold pressure gradient, while rock compressibility is critical of stress sensitivity but rarely noticed. A series of rock compressibility measurement experiments have been conducted, and the quantitative relationship between effective stress and rock compressibility is accurately described in this paper. In the experiment, the defects in previous experiments were eliminated by using a new-type core holder. The results show that as the effective stress increases, the rock compressibility becomes lower. Then, a stress sensitivity model that considers the effect of effective stress on rock compressibility is established due to the experimental results. The well performance of a vertical well estimated by this model shows when considering the effect of effective stress on the rock compressibility, the production rate and recovery factor are larger than those without considering it. Moreover, the effect of porosity and confining pressure on the productivity of a vertical well is also studied and discussed in this paper. The results show that the productivity of a vertical well decreases with the increase in overburden pressure, and increases with the increase in the porosity.


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