Delineation of Piceance Basin basement structures using multiple source data: Implications for fractured reservoir exploration
Fractured production trends in Piceance Basin Cretaceous-age Mesaverde Group gas reservoirs are controlled by subsurface structures. Because many of the subsurface structures are controlled by basement fault trends, a new interpretation of basement structure was performed using an integrated interpretation of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM), side-looking airborne radar (SLAR), high altitude, false color aerial photography, gas and water production data, high-resolution aeromagnetic data, subsurface geologic information, and surficial fracture maps. This new interpretation demonstrates the importance of basement structures on the nucleation and development of overlying structures and associated natural fractures in the hydrocarbon-bearing section. Grand Valley, Parachute, Rulison, Plateau, Shire Gulch, White River Dome, Divide Creek and Wolf Creek fields all produce gas from fractured tight gas sand and coal reservoirs within the Mesaverde Group. Tectonic fracturing involving basement structures is responsible for development of permeability allowing economic production from the reservoirs. In this context, the significance of detecting natural fractures using the intergrated fracture detection technique is critical to developing tight gas resources. Integration of data from widely-available, relatively inexpensive sources such as high-resolution aeromagnetics, remote sensing imagery analysis and regional geologic syntheses provide diagnostic data sets to incorporate into an overall methodology for targeting fractured reservoirs. The ultimate application of this methodology is the development and calibration of a potent exploration tool to predict subsurface fractured reservoirs, and target areas for exploration drilling, and infill and step-out development programs.
- Research Organization:
- Alabama Univ., University, AL (United States); Gas Research Inst., Chicago, IL (United States); Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC (United States); Mine Safety and Health Administration, Arlington, VA (United States); Alabama Geological Survey, University, AL (United States); US Department of Energy (USDOE), Washington DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC21-93MC30086
- OSTI ID:
- 106783
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950572-; ON: DE95014457; TRN: 95:006491-0001
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Intergas `95: international unconventional gas symposium, Tuscaloosa, AL (United States), 15-19 May 1995; Other Information: PBD: [1995]; Related Information: Is Part Of Intergas `95: International unconventional gas symposium. Proceedings; PB: 576 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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