Case History--Reddell Oil Field, Evangeline Parish, Louisiana

C. T. Austin

The purpose of this paper is to give the gravity meter credit as the mai geophysical method used in the discovery of the Reddell Oil Field in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana.

LL&E provided me with gravity data to use in the calculation of a salt model of the Reddell Salt Dome. The purpose of the study was to define the structure so the truncation of three (3) prospective sands in the Wilcox, Lowe Eocene could be determined.

The interpretation of the Reddell Dome was complicated by the influence of the nearby Pine Prairie Salt Dome and both had to be modeled.

A regional gravity was removed from the Bouguer gravity to give Residual Gravity Map representing the gravity response to the salt domes.

Gamma-gamma density logs were used to determine the density of the sediments and the contrasting densities between the sediments and the consistent salt density.

Another input for the computer modeling program was a reference surface; in this case the top of the Louann salt, Lower Jurassic.

The digital data are gridded with a square grid that is appropriate for the gravity control. The reference surface becomes a series of prisms whos height is a variable. The modeling program uses an iterative procedure evelop a salt structure whose computed gravity matches the input gravity.

The domes were successfully modeled from the gravity and a discovery well was drilled at the Reddell Dome. This dome was later developed along with the Pine Prairie Dome.

AAPG Search and Discover Article #91019©1996 AAPG Convention and Exhibition 19-22 May 1996, San Diego, California