--> ABSTRACT: Alba Field--Middle Eocene Deep-Water Channel in U.K. North Sea, by Spencer R. Winter, Henry H. Bretthauer, and George A. Mattingly; #91022 (1989)

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Alba Field--Middle Eocene Deep-Water Channel in U.K. North Sea

Spencer R. Winter, Henry H. Bretthauer, George A. Mattingly

The Alba field is located in the Witch Ground graben between the Fladen Ground spur to the north and the Renee Ridge to the south, entirely in UKCS Block 16/26. In 1985, oil was discovered in the middle Eocene sands of the Horda formation at a depth of 6,100 ft subsea. Twelve additional wells, including sidetracks, have been drilled to appraise the discovery. This drilling indicates the Alba field is a stratigraphic trap covering an area of 3,600 ac.

The Alba sands represent a brief interruption in the hemipelagic sedimentation that dominated this part of the Witch Ground graben during the middle Eocene. Sediment was supplied intermittently from a shelf area to the northwest into a deep-water environment. Well correlations, seismic facies analysis, and core analysis indicate that these sands were deposited as part of a constructional channel/levee complex within a mud-rich, shelf-sourced submarine fan system. The cap and the updip and lateral seals to the reservoir are shale.

The Alba reservoir is predominantly a homogeneous, fine-grained, unconsolidated sand. The average reservoir porosity is 33% and the average permeability is 2.8 darcys. Oil in place is estimated to be 1.1 billion bbl of 20° API crude.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91022©1989 AAPG Annual Convention, April 23-26, 1989, San Antonio, Texas.