Print this pageProvenance of Ben
Nevis/Avalon Formation Reservoir Sandstones, 
White
Rose Field,
Angie Dearin, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Dept of Earth
Sciences, St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada,
[email protected]
The White Rose oil field was discovered in
1984. It is located in the White Rose field resides in a
structurally complex faulted area and contains both oil and gas. The oil pool covers approximately 40km2 and
contains an estimated 200-250 million barrels of recoverable oil. The source
rock is the Kimmeridgian-age marine shale of the Egret Member of the Rankin
Formation. Reservoir rock is from the
Aptian-age Ben Nevis/Avalon Formation sandstone, with variable thicknesses up
to 300m. The conformably overlying siltstones and calcareous shales of the
Nautilus Formation provide the regional seal.
The main objective of this project is to evaluate and
understand the provenance of the Ben Nevis/Avalon Formation sandstones within
the White Rose Field. This study will
determine the change of provenance with time, within (and adjacent to) selected
reservoir intervals; as well as how provenance and associated sediment
transport is reflected in lateral trends.
Questions to be considered are whether the sediments have been derived
from more than one source area, how the source(s) may have evolved through
time, and whether the sands were deposited directly, or if they were
redeposited from previously deposited sediment. Clearly, a depositional model
must be adopted as a framework for the analysis of provenance. On the other
hand, it is hoped that provenance analyses (mineralogical and geochemical data)
may further constrain existing chronostratigraphic correlations.