ABSTRACT: Devonian Gas Resources of Western Canada Sedimentary Basin-Play Definition and Resource Assessment

REINSON, G. E. P. J. LEE, W. WALTERS, K. G. OSADETZ, L. L. BELL, P. R. PRICE, F. TROLLOPE, R. I. CAMPBELL, and J. E. BARCLAY, Institute of Sedimentary and Petroleum Geology, Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

An assessment of natural gas resource potential in Devonian strata has recently been completed as part of a comprehensive overall assessment of gas resources within the Western Canada Sedimentary basin. The assessment procedure for established plays contained two essential components: geological analysis and statistical evaluation. Geological analysis involves characterization of exploration plays with respect to type and areal extent. Pools within a specific play form a natural geological population that is governed by one or more geological controls, such as depositional style, structure, geometry, etc. (For example, carbonate plays may be characterized as barrier reef, isolated reef, shelf margin, and platform.) Thus, the play boundary also is controlled by geological factors, whic , in turn, govern the distribution of pools within that play. Once the play is defined, numerical evaluation is undertaken using the Discovery Process Model. This model uses all the pools within a play boundary, specifically their size (gas volume) and discovery sequence, to generate estimates of overall play potential and individual undiscovered pool sizes.

The analysis of Devonian gas potential involved the geological definition and statistical evaluation of 25 established plays. The results indicate that several of these plays still have a significant upside potential with respect to undiscovered gas volumes, particularly the Slave Point reef complexes and platform carbonates in northeast British Columbia and northwest Alberta, the Leduc/Nisku reef complexes in the Alberta Deep basin, and the Swan Hills shelf margin play in west-central Alberta.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91017©1992 AAPG Rocky Mountain Section Meeting, Casper, Wyoming, September 13-16, 1992 (2009)