Print this pageAAPG GEO 2010 Middle East
Geoscience Conference & Exhibition
Innovative Geoscience Solutions – Meeting Hydrocarbon Demand in Changing Times
March 7-10, 2010 – Manama, Bahrain
Controls from Dolomite Distribution in a Lower Cretaceous Ramp, Benassal Formation, Serra D’Orpesa, Spain
Raed El-Awawdeh4; Lizbeth Miles2; Sonia Bradley3; Sherry Stafford1; Rachael Via2; Richard Tobiassen2; Christine Iannello Bachtel1; 
Jon
Kaufman5; Juan Diego Martin6; Enrique Gomez-Rivas7
(1) ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company, Houston, TX.
(2) ExxonMobil Exploration Company, Houston, TX.
(3) ExxonMobil Production Company, Houston, TX.
(4) ExxonMobil Abu Dhabi Offshore Petroleum Company Ltd., Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
(5) ExxonMobil International Ltd., London, United Kingdom.
(6) Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
(7) Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Well-exposed Aptian shallow-water carbonates of the Benassal Formation in Serra d’Orpesa, Spain provide an excellent opportunity to document depositional, diagenetic, and structural controls on dolomite distribution in a ramp setting analogous to conditions observed in some giant Middle Eastern fields. The Racó del Moro outcrop is the subject of a broader stratigraphic, diagenetic, and modeling study on the origin of dolomite co-led by researchers at the University of Barcelona and the University of Barcelona Autònoma in collaboration with ExxonMobil’s FC2 Alliance. Due to excellent lateral exposure, recent efforts have been focused on characterizing the two-dimensional stratigraphic architecture, with emphasis on lateral and vertical dolomite distribution across the outcrop. Detailed field mapping has revealed subtle depositional controls on dolomite distribution, and provides insight into controls on diagenetic fluid pathways that could enhance reservoir quality and productivity in carbonate reservoirs. Furthermore, the data collected from detailed field mapping has served as a key input into construction of a geologic model used to test various fluid flow scenarios. The study plans to show and discuss the field mapping observations in stratigraphic context and provide scenarios of controls on dolomite distribution.