Print this pageData Mining, 3-D Views and Some Characterization of Fractures, Faults and Migration Paths in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin
Data mining and 3D visualization are ideally suited to unravel the hidden details of mature basins; such tools allow many disciplines to be used to construct an improved structural and dynamic picture of a basin. Fractures, faults and migration paths of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin will be examined using a series of techniques and methods involving various types of data from different disciplines. The uncertainty related to each parameter used will be addressed and will be overcome by the shear volume of data available.
The examples presented are essentially from data that are commonly neglected by the oil industry. Cuttings observations that make little sense at first glance can give incredible information on type of tectonic activity, nature of fluid migrations and their relative timing - information will include grain angularity and abnormal red colors planes crossing formations. Three-dimensional views of large amount of data are incredibly powerful when dealing with information from many formations. The chosen examples include drilling problems, abnormal gas compositions as well as unusually high porosity or net-to-gross values, the latter needing normalization per formation to be optimally utilized.
Fractures, faults and migration paths have yet to be better understood at a basin and at more local scales. The mature Western Canadian Basin has a remaining rosy future under oil and gas prices as high as today’s. Finding new resources will most likely require innovative thinking and the use of extremely large data sets in a multidisciplinary and cross-formational approach.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90090©2009 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Denver, Colorado, June 7-10, 2009