DAVIES, DAVID K., David K. Davies and Associates, Inc., Kingwood, TX, and JAIME VARGAS, Proserca, Maracaibo, Venezuela

ABSTRACT: Sedimentological Characterization of Braided and Meandering Fluvial Reservoirs: Prediction of Size and Heterogeneity

Fluvial reservoirs host significant volumes of hydrocarbons. They comprise a significant reserve base in areas and formations as diverse as the San Jorge Basin, Argentina, the Lagunillas Formation, Venezuela, and Cano Limon Field, Colombia. Effective development and reservoir management requires detailed sedimentological characterization because fluvial reservoirs, irrespective of age and geographic location, are characterized by considerable variability in geometry and internal heterogeneity.

This paper presents models of braided and meandering reservoirs in selected Tertiary and Cretaceous fields of South and North America, based on sedimentological characterization using conventional cores and wireline logs. Fieldwide (macro-scale) and inter-well (meso-scale) heterogeneity is determined through detailed evaluation of facies distribution, particularly the distribution and maturity of paleosol horizons (e.g. calcretes). Within a given reservoir, micro-scale variations in porosity, permeability and saturation are fundamentally related to depositional environment. Effective permeability to hydrocarbons varies with environment and bedding style.

The size of meandering and braided channel reservoirs is predicted using empirical geological equations. Predicted dimensions are compared with the independent results of reservoir simulation analysis for the same sand bodies. Engineering and sedimentological predictions of reservoir size and heterogeneity are similar, particularly in reservoirs where median permeability to hydrocarbons is > 1 md. The size and heterogeneity of productive channel reservoirs can be predicted at an early stage in field development if channel style and channel depth are known. Determination of these two fundamental parameters requires sedimentological characterization at the macro-, meso-, and micro-scale using wireline logs and cores.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90988©1993 AAPG/SVG International Congress and Exhibition, Caracas, Venezuela, March 14-17, 1993.