--> Abstract: How Modern Petroleum System Modeling Tools Could Have Reduced Risk In Exploration Of The Powder River Basin, by C. N. Wold, R. J. Coskey, D. L. Rasmussen, T. Throndsen, M. Wangen, and J. E. Leonard; #90928 (1999).

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WOLD, CHRISTOPHER N.1, ROBERT J. COSKEY2, DALTON L. RASMUSSEN1, TORBJORN THRONDSEN3, MAGNUS WANGEN3, and JAY E. LEONARD1
1Platte River Associates, Inc., Boulder, CO
2Rose Exploration, Inc., Denver, CO
3Institute for Energy Technology, Kjeller, Norway

Abstract: How Modern Petroleum System Modeling Tools Could Have Reduced Risk in Exploration of the Powder River Basin

Although suffering from a paucity of drilling activity, the Powder River basin in eastern Wyoming is an ideal laboratory for petroleum systems analysis. Over 30,000 wells have been drilled during three main phases of petroleum exploration: 1) discovery of oil seeps and drilling near those seeps on the eastern margin of the basin; 2) drilling on basin margin structural plays; 3) drilling of stratigraphic plays. The extensive drilling of the basin combined with regional structure-contour and isopach maps provide an excellent database for multidimensional petroleum systems analysis and the validation of modeling.

A petroleum systems modeling approach is applied based on the knowledge in existence during the various stages of Powder River basin exploration. As time progresses, more data are included and the knowledge used for modeling increases. Multiple 1-D models are used to calibrate and construct the timing and distribution of hydrocarbon generation and expulsion from the various source rocks. Then a 3-D model is used to simulate the driving forces for secondary migration and trapping of hydrocarbons through time. Uncertainty in the model input parameters are taken into account to estimate the risk of drilling various prospects.

The final result is a risk-weighted assessment of prospects during each major stage of the basin exploitation, and a possible prediction of yet-undiscovered prospects in the Power River basin, such as overpressured fracture traps.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90928©1999 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas