Seismic Stratigraphy of a Fracture Reservoir: Case Study of Albion-Scipio Trend, South-Central Michigan

Stacy L. Clark, Ron White

The Albion-Scipio trend is a narrow, divergent left-lateral wrench system in the south-central flank of the Michigan basin. The initial discovery well, Perry 1 Houseknecht, was drilled in 1956 to the Trenton Limestone, allegedly on the advice of a fortune-teller. In 1957, the well was deepened and completed in the Black River, flowing 150 BOPD. Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, all subsequent field extensions were controlled by random drilling along a straight-line, northwest-southeast projection through the Scipio and Albion fields. By the early 1960s, 320 wells were on production, and development of the Albion-Scipio trend was nearly completed. The field has produced approximately 126 million bbl of oil and 230 bcf of gas since 1957. Geophysical techniques were not employed in the discovery, extension, or development work in the field.

With the increase in oil prices during the Arab oil embargo of 1973, the search was on for other trends similar to the Albion-Scipio fields in south-central Michigan. Coincidently, geophysical methods were upgraded from analog to digital recording, field techniques and equipment were improved, and new software made it probable that geophysics could contribute to the exploration for new fracture trends in southern Michigan. In the summer of 1982, Ladd Petroleum conducted a modeling study to determine if there were attributes that could be used to identify the Albion-Scipio field seismically. Interpolative modeling and field testing indicated that where frequencies above 70 Hz are recovered in the field, several seismic attributes associated with the productive fracture portions of the renton-Black River reservoirs could be identified. These attributes included (1) direct observation of faulting, (2) "sagging" of the Trenton reflector, (3) disruption of the Black River shale reflector due to destructive or constructive interference, and (4) the seismic color attributes of frequency and amplitude. Because Trenton-Black River stratigraphy varies little in southern Michigan, these seismic attributes should remain constant regionally and aid in finding other fractured Trenton-Black River reservoirs in southern Michigan.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91039©1987 AAPG Mid-Continent Section Meeting, Tulsa, Oklahoma, September 27-29, 1987.