Basin Modelling in Foothills: The Use of Coupled Thermal and Fluid Flow Modelling for Hydrocarbon Flow Prediction

Jean-Paul Callot¹, F. Roure¹, F. Schneider², H. Ferket³, N. Vilasi¹, E. Gonzales⁴, N. Guilhaumou⁵, P. Mougin¹, K. Muska⁶, S. Ortuno⁷, and Rudy Swennen^3
1IFP, Rueil-Malmaison, France
²Beicip Franlab, Rueil Malmaison, France
³KU, Leuwen, Belgium
⁴Pemex, Mexico, Mexico
⁵Nat. Hist. Museum, Paris, France
⁶Tirana Univ., Paris, Albania
⁷IMP, Mexico, Mexico

Basin modelling aims at reconstructing the time evolution of a sedimentary basin in order to make use of geological phenomena to quantify hydrocarbon flow. Classic basin model generally handle simple geometry unusable in geometrically complex areas. The Ceres model has been developed to generate both backward and forward kinematic scenarii for complex 2D sections. It can account for sedimentation-erosion, thermal and petroleum as well as three phase fluid flow modelling.
Unlike in passive margins however, erosion is a dominant feature in the foothills domains, making thus challenging the reconstruction of their burial and past thermal evolution. Although the use of Present Day and paleo-thermometers such as well data, Ro and Tmax is usually sufficient to calibrate the heat flow and geothermal gradients in the foreland, where limited erosion occurred, it is usually not possible to derive a single solution for paleo-burial and paleo-thermal gradients estimates in the foothills.

It is thus necessary to propose an integrated methodology to relate paleo-thermo-barometers to the coupled fluid flow and thermal scenarii to propose realistic quantitative modelling. This methodology is the fruit of tests performed in Alberta and Eastern Venezuelan. Results from two other transects in Albania and across the Cordoba thrust belt will further illustrate the potentiality of such approach

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