--> Abstract: The Application of Sequence Stratigraphic Models to Improve the Understanding of Paleogene Reservoirs in West Greenland and Baffin Bay, by Kate Evans; #90177 (2013)

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The Application of Sequence Stratigraphic Models to Improve the Understanding of Paleogene Reservoirs in West Greenland and Baffin Bay

Kate Evans

Hydrocarbon exploration on the West Greenland margin has developed from early limited drilling programmes in the 1970s and 2000 to the more recent active campaigns over the last few years. In these areas active petroleum systems can be inferred from some of the exploration wells and boreholes that yield positive hydrocarbon shows, that are deemed to be primarily sourced from Cretaceous marine and terrestrial shales. Numerous intervals of Paleogene potential reservoir sands have also been encountered in subsurface data. Additionally potential sands bodies such as turbidites, channels, basin floor fans and syn-rift wedges have been identified from seismic reflection data gathered in the 1990s. Furthermore, in the undrilled areas of the regions significant insight can be generated through the application of a sequence stratigraphic model to assess, model and predict each of the petroleum system elements. During the post rift phase in the Late Cretaceous – Early Paleocene, the West Greenland margin underwent a complex tectonic evolution, which involved extensive fault movement and the development of several major uplift episodes and unconformities. These events have had a profound effect on the distribution and preservation of potential reservoir sands in the Palaeogene. In this context sequence stratigraphic models allow the definition of predictive paradigms for distribution and creation of Gross Deposition Environment maps. These same sequence stratigraphic models have the benefit of defining major stages of sand input around 2nd and 3rd order sequence boundaries or the deposition of shale around major maximum floods. Potential Paleogene reservoir sands have been penetrated in several wells, for example Kangâmiut-1, Nukik-2 and Hellefisk-1 and biostratigraphic data suggests these were deposited in a range of water depths ranging from littoral to offshore marine. By combining the tectonic, stratigraphic and paleoenvironmental histories and placing this within a sequence stratigraphic context we aim to show when major inputs of sand were deposited relative to sea level and the most likely settings where the more optimum accumulations are preserved.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90177©3P Arctic, Polar Petroleum Potential Conference & Exhibition, Stavanger, Norway, October 15-18, 2013