Applying Digital Rock Characterization to a New North American Basin Shale Play

Abstract

Abstract

Description

Two wells were drilled in an emerging Anadarko basin shale play from the same formation but in different maturity windows. Multi-scale digital rock properties (DRP) were obtained from core and plug samples, to evaluate rock quality. From vertical well #1, dual energy CT scanning and spectral gamma logging was performed along 146 continuous feet of slabbed core. This data was used to compute bulk density, photoelectric factor, mineralogy, total organic content and brittleness index. From this core, 10 plug samples were acquired. From vertical well #2, six plug samples were acquired within the same formation but from a higher maturity window.

For each sample acquired, mineralogy was derived from X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis, and geochemical properties were obtained with laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). Ion-milled SEM data and 3D FIB-SEM data from the 16 samples was used to measure effective porosity (PhiE), solid organic matter (OM), porosity associated with organic matter (PAOM), apparent transformation ratio (ATR) and horizontal absolute permeability (K_Horizontal). We compared the digital rock properties to traditional lab measurements, including LECO TOC, Tmax, Vro, and XRD mineralogy. The range in porosity measurements obtained from both traditional lab methods and DRP, were used by the operator to calculate different cases of original oil in place (OOIP) over their acreage area.

Application

The main application is to quantify key rock properties on an emerging Anadarko basin shale play and to compare the porosity, permeability, and organic matter to traditional lab measurements and to other well-known shale formations. This information will be used to determine the likelihood of successful commercial development in this new area.

Results and Conclusions

We compared the rock quality of this new play to similar major shale plays in the US. The analysis indicates that this new play has TOC, porosity, and permeabilities that are favorable for hydrocarbon production. DRP measurements indicated maturity, reservoir quality and provided additional support to traditional core analysis measurements, allowing the operator to better understand OOIP.

Technical Contributions

Present rock properties data for a new North American shale play

Show that the rock quality is high in both the lower and higher maturity zones

Demonstrate that this new play has exceptional rock quality compared to some other more well-known shale formations

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90260 © 2016 AAPG/SEG International Conference & Exhibition, Cancun, Mexico, September 6-9, 2016