AAPG ANNUAL MEETING
New Orleans, Louisiana
April 25-28, 1993

The Ram/Powell Field is located in the Viosca Knoll area of the Gulf in 3,200' of water. Shell discovered the field in 1985 and operates for partners, Amoco and Exxon. Amoco estimates that the field contains recoverable resources of more than 300 MMBOE, making this one of the largest deep-water discoveries to date.

Ram Field contains multiple reservoirs within distinctly different channel/levee architectures which exemplify the variety of reservoir habitats found in deep-water slope environments. The reservoirs are stratigraphically trapped within the sand-rich channel/levee facies of a Miocene slope-fan system. Within the 50 square mile field area, at least nine separate channel/levee units are recognized using 3D seismic, log and core data. A comparison of two of these units, the J Sand and N Sand, illustrates the variability of reservoir architecture within this fan complex. The N Sand is interpreted as an erosional channel. The lens-shaped unit has an irregular base which truncates adjacent shales. Blocky, massive sands within the channel display a fill geometry. No Levee/overbank deposition is apparent in this unit. In contrast, the J Sand channel/levee complex is broadly mounded with a flat base. This unit pinches out laterally and has a shingled internal configuration. Sinuous thickness trends may represent migrating channels within the J complex. The progression of channel/levee architecture from older N to younger J Sands is thought to reflect changes of the slope-fan system during sealevel rise from higher energy erosion and fill to lower energy meandering and aggradation.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90987©1993 AAPG Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 25-28, 1993.