Print this pageABSTRACT: An Overview of the Silurian Reef Play - S.W. Ontario and S.E. Michigan - Something Old - Something New
Mark G. Hadley, Range Petroleum Corporation, Calgary, AB, Canada; Scott W. Hadley, Range Petroleum Corporation, Calgary, AB, Canada; Cyril J. Hadley, Hadley Resources Ltd., London, ON, Canada; Dave D'Amico, Range Petroleum Corporation, Calgary, AB, Canada
Over the past 3 years the Silurian Reef play in S.W. Ontario has experienced an unprecedented level of activity in the form of land leasing, 3D seismic acquisition and a variety of other direct and indirect exploration techniques. Enthusiasm for the play remains high with the discovery of a number of significant new pools.
Critical to the success of the play has been a blending of old and new technologies. Rock work, primarily cuttings analysis, is essential for correct tops picks in a basin plagued by a lack of logs. More importantly sample work and log analysis is imperative for determining reef proximity through the identification of rabbit ears, debris, A1 dolomite, and salt thicknesses. New technologies such as advances in thin section microscopy and fluid inclusion stratigraphy provide data on reservoir quality and compartmentalization. Older technologies such as gravity continue to be of use especially with increased sampling and advances in filtering and processing.
More modern exploration techniques have been used to successfully reduce predrill risk. These include advances in reprocessing and acquisition of seismic; the use of 3D megabin technology; and coherency cube and energy absorption analysis technologies. On the engineering side advances in directional drilling have allowed successful access of prospects beneath culturally and environmentally sensitive locations.
The basin has seen an increase in the use of indirect technologies such as high-resolution aeromagnetics, radiometrics and surface geochemistry as well as the more obscure arts of dowsing and wrezing.
Search and Discovery Article #90907©2000 AAPG Eastern Section Meeting, London, Ontario, Canada