A Faulted Devonian Play in New Mexico: An Integrated Approach

BURNETT, MIKE, Consultant, Dallas, TX, and GARY SNYDER, Oryx Energy, Dallas, TX

Early Pennsylvanian faulting is one mechanism that created the structural traps necessary for oil production in Chavez County, New Mexico. A mixture of clastic and carbonate rocks, along with little or no structure above the Pennsylvanian gives rise to the occurrence of multiples that can obscure the faint Devonian reflection on surface seismic data. A case history shows how an integrated approach using well logs and borehole seismic can solve the short-term problem of where the edge of the reservoir is with respect to a dry hole. Reservoir development is then enhanced by vertical-seismic-profile-guided surface seismic processing and integration. This process brings increased seismic resolution that positively impacts exploitation economics.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91011©1991 AAPG Southwest Section Meeting, Abilene, Texas, February 9-12, 1991 (2009)