Print this pageA Geological and Geophysical Assessment of the Royal Center Gas Storage Field in North-Central Indiana, a Joint NIPSCO, DOE and GRI Case Study
MROZ, THOMAS H., JAMES CRISMAN, NIPSCO, TIMOTHY FASNACHT, STEPHEN SCHAEFER, and ERNIE MAJER
An effort to evaluate the Royal Center Gas Storage Field was initiated to determine the feasibility of utilizing horizontal well technology to improve the ratio of working gas to base gas and improve deliverability. A 2-D seismic survey and interpretation was initiated by GRI and NIPSCO, the geological modeling and reservoir analysis is being accomplished through a Cooperative Research And Development Agreement (CRADA) between Northern Indiana Public Service Company and USDOE Morgantown Energy Technology Center. An integrated analysis of well logs, core data, and seismic survey data was applied to the Royal Center Storage Field in the Trenton Limestone aquifer. The field is a structurally closed high with a northeast strike and a parallel fault on the southeast boundary. The formation porosity appears to be due to a combination of dolomitization and fracturing in the structural high of the asymmetric anticline. Core permeability data was correlated to Epilog calculated porosity and gas saturations. The data show complex relationships exist when compared in 3-D.
The interpretation of the high resolution 2-D seismic data indicates a correlation of anomalously high amplitudes with the development of significant porosity in the upper portion of the Trenton. A downhole multi-component, multi offset, VSP survey was then run to determine if the amplitude anomalies from the 2-D seismic survey could be detected and their orientations calculated to assist in designing the horizontal well. The integrated results from all of the studies were used to site a horizontal well in the northern portion of the field.