Prediction of Seal Failure and Reservoir Breaching in Deep Water
Abstract
A viable prospect with a good potential for hydrocarbon reserves requires four amalgamated components. Hydrocarbon source and the presence of reservoir that receives, contains and delivers the hydrocarbon to the well head. Top seal that is indispensable to keep the hydrocarbon trapped in the reservoir. Last, but not least, is the drillable feasibility of the prospect. The absence of any of the aforementioned criteria can lead to the abandonment of the whole prospect. However, the common known cause of reservoir breaching is seal failure. Some of the seal integrity symptom and prognosis can be foreseen during the prospect generation phase and ahead of spudding the well location. They can be categorized as follows:
This article shows case histories where stratigraphy, structural setting, reservoir quality, hydrocarbon source, and seismic attributes support a viable prospect prior to drilling. However, upon post-drill, these wells were deemed to be dry holes. A brief diagnostic assessment follows each case based on the above mentioned causes of seal failure will be discussed.
These issues need to be examined methodically during the process of generating a prospect. Geopressure coupled with sequence stratigraphy and basin modeling can help establish a winning endeavor.
AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90219 © 2015 GCAGS, Houston, Texas, September 20-22, 2015