Carbonate Platform Reef-Shoal Reservoir Architecture Study and Characteristic Evaluation: A Case of S Field in Turkmenistan

Carbonate sediments are susceptible to many factors, such as paleostructure, diagenesis, and strong microbial alteration; as such, their sedimentary architecture still calls for further research. In this study, the reef and shoal bodies in the XVm and XVp layers of the Middle–Upper Jurassic Karlov-Oxfordian in the S gas field were used as the object, and the architecture of the reef-shoal facies was studied. Based on the idea of “vertical grading and horizontal boundary”, the interface characteristics of the 6th to 4th levels of reef-shoal bodies in the study area were summarized, as were four ways to determine the boundaries of reef-shoal bodies. Based on the dense well network, we quantitatively described the scale of each small layer of single reef shoal body through the point-line-surface method and established a geological database of the reef shoal bodies in the study area. In addition, we established the width and thickness of the reef shoal body and the empirical formula for relationships. The study of morphological characteristics of reef-shoal bodies and the degree of overlap revealed six architecture models of reef-shoal bodies. The vertical and lateral superimposed reefs were obtained by evaluating the reservoir space, pore throat characteristics, and physical property characteristics corresponding to various architecture models. The vertical and lateral superimposed shoals corresponded to large reservoir thicknesses. The petrophysical properties were good, and we concluded that the reef-shoal superimposed area was a sweet spot for reservoir development. We applied the research results of reef-shoal architecture reservoir characteristics to gas field development, and therefore improved well pattern deployment in the reef-shoal superimposed area. By comparing the test results of newly deployed horizontal wells with adjacent vertical wells, we confirmed that the selection of horizontal wells was better for gas field development. This study on the architecture of reef-shoal facies could guide the study of carbonate rock architecture.

Aeolian Sand Dune Sedimentary Architecture Is Key in Determining the “Slow-Gas Effect” during Gas Field Production Performance

Summary Aeolian deposits are typically considered to act as homogeneous “tanks” of sand, which do not contain significant heterogeneities that impact the production of hydrocarbons. However, a succession of deeply buried aeolian gas reservoirs from the Permian Rotliegend exhibit a characteristic production decline profile that is typified by high initial flow rates, followed by a rapid decline in bottomhole pressure and decline in flow rate, subsequently followed by stabilization at low flow rates for an extended period (over several decades). This effect has been termed here as the “slow-gas effect,” and this production phenomenon has previously been attributed to structural compartmentalization. This paper presents an alternative, sedimentological hypothesis for the cause of the slow-gas effect based upon facies-controlled permeability differences within aeolian dune trough architectures. To test this, three interwell (km) scale models from well-studied aeolian analogs from Utah and Arizona were modeled with standard geostatistical reservoir techniques and populated with petrophysical properties from producing Rotliegend reservoirs in Germany. These models were subsequently dynamically simulated to analyze production behavior and test whether a similar “slow-gas” production profile could be reproduced. This study finds that the slow-gas effect primarily results from heterogeneities created by the complex interaction of deposition, accumulation, and erosion within aeolian strata, as opposed to the structural compartmentalization of homogeneous tanks of sand as previously thought. Structural compartmentalization and baffling through faulting where present will have an impact on fluid flow; however, it is not considered here to be the primary cause of the slow-gas effect. Results of this work demonstrate the necessity of accurately characterizing and reproducing low permeability heterogeneity in aeolian systems. These heterogeneities can either be modeled explicitly through the use of geostatistical reservoir modeling techniques as done here, or implicitly through the use of characteristic length and transmissibility multipliers. These results have significant implications on our understanding of how tight aeolian systems produce; namely, after depletion of the near-wellbore volume, production from the surrounding reservoir is baffled by a hierarchy of low permeability bounding surfaces and associated transmissibility barriers. Application for enhancing reservoir depletion strategies include optimizing well trajectories to maximize the number of dune penetrations and percentage of net reservoir facies in communication to the well; maximizing the size of the primary reservoir compartment. Neighboring wells should be placed in separate compartments to maximize the amount of fast-flowing gas production during the early production stage. Pressure management can be used to cyclically produce, deplete, and recharge the primary reservoir compartment to manage and optimize recovery during the decline phase and production tail.

Ground-Penetrating Radar Prospections to Image the Inner Structure of Coastal Dunes at Sites Characterized by Erosion and Accretion (Northern Tuscany, Italy)

In this study we aimed to gain insights into dune formation and evolution from select coastal tracts of Northern Tuscany by inspecting their internal sedimentary architecture with Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) analysis. Erosion, equilibrium and accretion characterize the selected coastal tracts, and this analysis remarks on some GPR features consistently associated with specific coastal evolution states. A standard sequence of data processing made it possible to trace several radar surfaces and reflectors in the GPR profile, eventually interpreted in terms of depositional processes and erosive events. The stable or currently accreting coastal sectors show radar features compatible with a general beach progradation process, punctuated by berm formation in the general context of a positive sedimentary budget. Additionally, the radar facies distribution locally supports a mechanism of dune nucleation on an abandoned berm. Conversely, the GPR profile of the coastal sector today affected by erosion shows how a negative sedimentary budget inhibited coastal progradation and favored destructive events. These events interacted also with the active dunes, as demonstrated by the overlapping of wave run-up and aeolian radar facies. GPR prospections were effective at delineating the recent/ongoing coastal sedimentary budget by identifying radar features linked to construction/destruction phenomena in the backshore, and to dune nucleation/evolution.

Palaeogeography and Palaeoenvironments – A Multifield Examination of the Devonian-Permian Evolution of the Dneipr-Donets Basin

Context is everything. Not all thick sands pay out and not all thin sands are poorly productive. It is important to understand a basin's palaeogeographical drivers, the resultant palaeoenvironments and their constituent sedimentary architecture. Development of a depositional model can be predictive with respect to the magnitude of accessible pore space for potential development. We present a multi-field study of the Dneipr-Donets basin. Over 600 wells were studied with >4500 lithostratigraphical picks being made. Over 7500 sedimentological picks were made allowing mapping of facies bodies and charting shifts in facies types. A facies classification scheme was developed and applied. The Devonian-Permian sedimentary section records the creation, fill, and terminal closure of the Dneipr-Donets Basin:Syn-rift brittle extension (late Frasnian-Famennian): intracratonic rifting between the Ukrainian Shield and Voronezh Massif formed a NW-SE orientated trough, with associated basaltic extrusion. Basin architecture consists of rotated fault blocks forming graben mini-basins. Sedimentation is dominantly upper shoreface but sand packages are poorly correlatable due to the faulted palaeotopography.Early Post-rift thermal subsidence (Visean-Lower Bashkirian): the faulted palaeotopography was filled and thermal subsidence drove basin deepening. Cyclical successions of offshore, lower shoreface and upper shoreface dominate. Sands are typically thin (<10m) but can be widely correlated and have high pore space connectivity.Mid Post-rift: the Bashkirian (C22/C23 boundary), paralic systems prograde over the shoreface. Changes in vertical facies are abrupt due to a low gradient to basin floor. Deltaic and fluvial facies can produce thick amalgamated sands (>30m), but access limited pore space because they are laterally restricted bodies.Terminal post-rift (Mykytivskan): above the lower Permian, the convergence of the Kazahkstanian and Siberian continents began to restrict the Dnieper-Donets basin's access to open ocean. The basin approached full conditions and deposition was dominated by evaporite precipitation, with periodic oceanic recharge. Ultimately, this sediment records the formation of Pangea. The successions examined were used to construct a basinal relative sea level curve, which can be applied elsewhere in the basin. This can be used to help provide palaeogeographical context to a field, which in turn controls the sedimentary architecture.

Sedimentary architecture and landforms of the late Saalian (MIS 6) ice sheet margin offshore of the Netherlands

Reconstructing the growth and decay of palaeo-ice sheets is critical to understanding the relationships between global climate and sea-level change and to testing numerical ice sheet models. In this study, we integrate recently acquired high-resolution 2D seismic reflection and borehole datasets from two wind-farm sites offshore of the Netherlands to investigate the sedimentary, geomorphological, and glaciotectonic records left by the Saalian Drenthe substage glaciation, when Scandinavian land ice reached its southernmost extent in the southern North Sea (ca. 160 ka, Marine Isotope Stage 6). A complex assemblage of glaciogenic sediments and glaciotectonic structures is buried in the shallow subsurface. The northern wind-farm site revealed a set of NE–SW-oriented subglacial meltwater channels filled with till and glaciofluvial sediments and an E–W-trending composite ridge with local evidence of intense glaciotectonic deformation that denotes the maximum limit reached by the ice. Based on the identified glacial geomorphology, we refine the mapping of the maximum ice sheet extent offshore, revealing that the ice margin morphology is more complex than previously envisaged and displaying a lobate shape. Ice retreat left an unusual paraglacial landscape characterised by the progressive infilling of topographic depressions carved by ice-driven erosion and a diffuse drainage network of outwash channels. The net direction of outwash was to the west and southwest into a nearby glacial basin. We demonstrate the utility of offshore wind-farm data as records of process–form relationships preserved in buried landscapes, which can be utilised in refining palaeo-ice sheet margins and informing longer-term drivers of change in low-relief settings.

What makes seep carbonates ignore self-sealing and grow vertically: the role of burrowing decapod crustaceans

The mechanisms that govern the vertical growth of seep carbonates were deciphered by studying the sedimentary architecture of a 15 m thick, 8 m wide column of limestone encased in deep-water marl in the middle Callovian interval of the Terres Noires Formation in the SE France Basin. The limestone body, also called “pseudobioherm”, records intense bioturbation, with predominant traces of the Thalassinoides/Spongeliomorpha suite, excavated by decapod crustaceans. Bioturbation was organized in four tiers. The uppermost tier, tier 1, corresponds to shallow homogenization of rather soft sediment. Tier 2 corresponds to pervasive burrows dominated by large Thalassinoides that were later passively filled by pellets. Both homogenized micrite and burrow-filling pellets are depleted in 13C in the range from −5 ‰ to −10 ‰. Tier 3 is characterized by small Thalassinoides that have walls locally bored by Trypanites; the latter represent tier 4. The diagenetic cements filling the tier-3 Thalassinoides are arranged in two phases. The first cement generation constitutes a continuous rim that coats the burrow wall and has consistent δ13C values of approximately −8 ‰ to −12 ‰, indicative of bicarbonate originating from the anaerobic oxidation of methane. In contrast, the second cement generation is dominated by saddle dolomite precipitated at temperatures >80 ∘C, at a time when the pseudobioherm was deeply buried. The fact that the tubes remained open until deep burial means that vertical fluid communication was possible over the whole vertical extent of the pseudobioherm up to the seafloor during its active development. Therefore, vertical growth was fostered by this open burrow network, providing a high density of localized conduits through the zone of carbonate precipitation, in particular across the sulfate–methane transition zone. Burrows prevented self-sealing from blocking upward methane migration and laterally deflecting fluid flow. One key aspect is the geometric complexity of the burrows with numerous subhorizontal segments that could trap sediment shed from above and, hence, prevent their passive fill.

Facies Analysis and Sedimentary Architecture of Hybrid Event Beds in Submarine Lobes: Insights from the Crocker Fan, NW Borneo, Malaysia

Hybrid event beds represent the combined effect of multiple geological processes, which result in complex depositional geometries and distinct facies distribution in marine environments. Previous work on hybrid event beds highlights the classification, origin, and types of hybrid facies. However, in the present study, we discuss the development of hybrid event beds in submarine lobes with an emphasis on the analysis of proximal to distal, frontal to lateral relationships and evolution during lobe progradation. Detailed geological fieldwork was carried out in the classical deep-marine Late Paleogene Crocker Fan to understand the relationship between the character of hybrid bed facies and lobe architecture. The results indicate that hybrid facies of massive or structureless sandstone with mud clasts, clean to muddy sand, and chaotic muddy sand with oversized sand patch alternations (H1–H3) are well developed in proximal to medial lobes, while distal lobes mainly contain parallel to cross-laminated clean to muddy hybrid facies (H3–H5). Furthermore, lateral lobes have less vertical thickness of hybrid beds than frontal lobes. The development of hybrid beds takes place in the lower part of the thickening upward sequence of lobe progradation, while lobe retrogradation contains hybrid facies intervals in the upper part of stratigraphy. Hence, the development of hybrid beds in submarine lobe systems has a significant impact on the characterization of heterogeneities in deep-marine petroleum reservoirs at sub-seismic levels.