--> Abstract: New Techniques for New Discoveries – Results from the Lisbon Field Area, Paradox Basin, Utah, by Seneshen, David M., Thomas C. Chidsey, Craig D. Morgan, and Michael D. Vanden Berg; #90071 (2007)

Datapages, Inc.Print this page

New Techniques for New Discoveries – Results from the Lisbon Field Area, Paradox Basin, Utah

Seneshen, David M.1, Thomas C. Chidsey2, Craig D. Morgan2, and Michael D. Vanden Berg2
1Vista Geoscience, Golden, CO
2Utah Geological Survey, Salt lake City, UT

     Exploration for Mississippian Leadville Limestone-Hosted hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Paradox Basin is high risk in terms of cost and low documented success rates (10% based on drilling history). The potential for more hydrocarbon reserves is enormous, but the high cost of seismic exploration methods in environmentally sensitive areas deters small independents from exploring for Leadville hydrocarbon reservoirs. This study was therefore initiated over the Lisbon and Lightning Draw Southeast fields to evaluate the effectiveness of low-cost surface geochemical methods for predicting productive and non-productive Leadville carbonate reservoirs. The main conclusions of the study are:
     (1) Low-cost surface geochemical methods are effective for distinguishing between productive and non-productive parts of Leadville reservoirs.
     (2) Important variables for distinguishing productive from nonproductive areas are light alkanes and aromatics (C1-C6), heavy aromatics (C30+), uranium, vanadium, cadmium, molybdenum, and lead.
     (3) Productive “Lisbon-type” microseepage signatures, based on discriminant analysis of C1-C12 hydrocarbon data, are observed over the recently discovered Leadville Lightning Draw Southeast gas condensate field southwest of Lisbon. Compositional signatures over the Lightning Draw field also predict productive parts of Lisbon.
     (4) Hydrocarbons (C1-C6), hydrogen and carbon dioxide are anomalous in free gas samples over productive parts of Leadville reservoirs.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90071 © 2007 AAPG Rocky Mountain Meeting, Snowbird, Utah