Carbonates - A Challenge for Basin Modelers

Kacewicz, Marek ¹
(1)ETC, Chevron, Houston, TX.

Carbonate petroleum systems are wide-spread throughout the world and account for ~50% of world hydrocarbon reserves. Regional scale basin models of petroleum systems which contain a significant volume of carbonates often miss the critical details required for proper evaluation of charge and volumetrics, and often are inadequate for pressure prediction. This is because reservoirs in carbonate rocks commonly are multiple-porosity systems characterized by a complex porosity evolution. Compartmentalization, which is caused by the depositional factors and syn- and post-depositional diagenesis as well as stress history, requires a high-resolution description of carbonates and syn- and post-depositional processes as well as building high-resolution petroleum systems models.

This paper shows how reservoir property distribution may influence final hydrocarbon accumulations. Different carbonate rock scenarios were obtained using a synthetic high-resolution carbonate platform model which was built for the purpose of this study. The carbonate platform model allows the simulation of petroleum systems such as the Arab and Khuff formations in the Middle East, isolated platforms in Kazakhstan, etc. A comparison of low- and high-resolution basin models clearly demonstrates that low-resolution 3D basin models often are too simplistic to be used in exploration.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90135©2011 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Milan, Italy, 23-26 October 2011.