Exploration and Development Challenges in the Triassic of North Africa

By

Chris G. Howells¹, Aziz Oudjida², Kevin Corrigan³

(1) Anadarko Algeria Company LLC, Uxbridge, United Kingdom (2) Anadarko Algeria Company LLC, N/A, United Kingdom (3) Anadarko Algeria Company LLC, United Kingdom

The Trias Argileux Greseux Inferieur (TAGI) of Algeria & Tunisia has proven to be a highly successful hydrocarbon play in North Africa in the last couple of decades of the 20th Century. The reservoirs are clastic and predominantly continental in origin. However, the geographical extent of the reservoir system is truly continental in terms of scale and variations are observed.

The TAGI was deposited in a low aggradation setting, resulting in extensive sheet-like packages of reservoir. Extensive reworking of sediment from a limited sediment provenance is observed, together with substantial early post-deposition modification of initial sediment characteristics. These have resulted in an extensive overlap of sedimentary and petrophysical/reservoir engineering properties.

This presentation aims to demonstrate the applicability of various methods of assessing and predicting sedimentological, petrophysical and reservoir engineering properties, at both exploration- and development-scale to an important North African reservoir.