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Colorado Basin, Argentina: A Case Study Combining
Forward
Sedimentary and Petroleum System Models for Consistent Evaluation of Basin
Evolution, Play Development, and Petroleum Migration and Trapping*
By
Andre Vayssaire1, Patrick Wojciak1, Dan Carruthers2, Daniel Figueroa3, Oscar Mancilla3, Claudio Haring3, Alicia Salinas3, Daniel Soubies3, Jean-Michel Gaulier4,
Guillaume Smagghe5, John Bunney5, and Romain Debarre6
Search and Discovery Article #40155 (2005)
Posted June 6, 2005
*Adapted from extended abstract, prepared by the authors for presentation,
entitled “Combining
Forward
Sedimentary and Petroleum System Models to
Consistently Evaluate Basin Evolution, Play Development, and Petroleum Migration
and Trapping. A Case Study from the Colorado Basin, Argentina,” at AAPG
International Conference & Exhibition, Cancun, Mexico, October 24-27, 2004.
1Beicip-Inc, Houston, TX;
2The Permedia Research Group Inc, Ottawa;
3Repsol- YPF, Argentina;
4Total, Paris, France;
5BP Exploration, Houston, TX
6Beicip-Franlab, Rueil-Malmaison, France
General Statement
We present a multi-disciplinary approach to understand the basin-scale evolution
of a continental margin petroleum system, using a reservoir
modeling
workflow as
an analogue. Generation of a consistent description of geophysical, geological,
and petrophysical dataset and understanding of their related uncertainty ranges
is key in order to address the various scales of physical processes operating as
the basin evolves. In our approach, we appropriately solve at different
length-scales within the same geologic volume the numerical solutions of
temperature, pressure, and petroleum migration back through time.
A deep offshore
case study from the Colorado Basin (Argentine Continental Margin) (Figure
1), covering an area of 160,000 km2
is
presented. We created a workflow combining integrated
seismic
stratigraphic
interpretation, stratigraphic facies prediction, 3D basin
modeling
,and
multiphase petroleum migration. Results from the study have enhanced our
understanding of the geological evolution of the Colorado Basin with specific
emphasis on the key risks on reservoir presence and petroleum system elements.
It helped us to identify the variety of play-types and associated key risks
within the basin.
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Workflow
Using the key interpreted
A numerical stratigraphic approach (Dionisos®) was used to predict the
stratigraphic architecture and facies distribution (Figure
3) in the undrilled areas using macro-scale physical laws over
geological times, taking into account the existing wells and
The outputs of the stratigraphic simulation were used to populate a 3D
basin model (Temis3D®). The dynamic evolution of the basin, including
the compaction, pressure, temperature, and hydrocarbon generation, was
calculated through time, and properties were calibrated against observed
well The evolving basin properties were then passed onto a high-resolution petroleum migration simulator (MPath®), which evaluates the migration and trapping of the expelled petroleum through time (Figures 4, 5, and 6). Stochastic uncertainty was introduced at this stage, allowing realizations of multiple scenarios in order to evaluate the distribution of pool sizes and petroleum phase types to be risked.
The
workflow illustrated here combines the accuracy, refinement, and
efficiency of three different numerical models and takes full advantage
of the available |
