The Sequence Stratigraphy, Depositional Environment and Reservoir Characterization of the Taylor Sandstone at Woodlawn Field, Harrison County, East Texas

Jennifer Hoyt¹ and Floyd "Bo" Henk^2
1 University of Texas at Dallas, Murphy, TX
² Matador Resources, Dallas, TX

The Taylor Sandstone, of Upper Jurassic age, is dominantly a shallow marine sandstone and mudstone unit in the Cotton Valley Group that has produced several TCF of gas from numerous fields in East Texas. This study utilizes conventional cores and field-wide coverage with well logs in the Woodlawn Field. Through an integrated ichnologic and sedimentologic analysis of the core a depositional framework for the Taylor Sandstone has been interpreted and the sequence stratigraphy of the Taylor system has been established. Several parasequences, representing seaward progradation of shorefaces and subsequent flooding events have been identified and are mapped across the entire field.

We recognize numerous lithofacies within the Taylor parasequences that have distinctive reservoir characteristics and are mappable throughout the field with corresponding e-log responses. Porosity distribution, a result of original sedimentation and early biogenic overprint and subsequent burial cementation, is controlling reservoir quality within the field. Mapping porosity changes with respect to facies will help identify which areas in the field are a candidate for drilling which might have been previously overlooked.