Study of Reservoir Heterogencities and Structural Features Affecting Production in the Shallow Oil Zone, Eastern Elk Hills Area, California
Late Neogene (Plio-Pleistocene) shallow marine strata of the western Bakersfield Arch and Elk Hills produce hydrocarbons from several different reservoirs. This project focuses on the shallow marine deposits of the Gusher and Calitroleum reservoirs in the Lower Shallow Oil Zone (LSOZ). In the eastern part of the study area on the Bakersfield Arch at North and South Coles Levee field and in two wells in easternmost Elk Hills, the LSOZ reservoirs produce dry (predominantly methane) gas. In structurally higher locations in western Elk Hills, the LSOZ produces oil and associated gas. Gas analyses show that gas from the eastern LSOZ is bacterial and formed in place in the reservoirs, whereas gas associated with oil in the western part of the study area is thermogenic and migrated into the sands from deeper in the basin. Regional mapping shows that the gas-bearing LSOZ sands in the Coles Levee and easternmost Elk Hills area are sourced from the Sierra Nevada to the east whereas the oil-bearing sands in western Elk Hills appear to be sourced from the west. The eastern Elk Hills area occupied the basin depocenter, farthest from either source area. As a result, it collected mainly low-permeability offshore shale deposits. This sand-poor depocenter provides an effective barrier to the updip migration of gases from east to west. The role of small, listric normal faults as migration barriers is more ambiguous. Because our gas analyses show that the gas in the eastern LSOZ reservoirs is bacterial, it likely formed in-place near the reservoirs and did not have to migrate far. Therefore, the gas could have been generated after faulting and accumulated within the fault blocks as localized pools. However, bacterial gas is present in both the eastern AND western parts of Elk Hills in the Dry Gas Zone (DGZ) near the top of the stratigraphic section even though the measured fault displacement is greatest in this zone. Bacterial gas is not present in the west in the deeper LSOZ which has less measured fault displacement. The main difference between the DGZ and the LSOZ appears to be the presence of a sandpoor area in the LSOZ in eastern Elk Hills. The lack of permeable migration pathways in this area would not allow eastern bacterial gas to migrate farther updip into western Elk Hills. A similar sand-poor area does not appear to exist in the DGZ but future research may be necessary to verify this.
- Research Organization:
- California State University
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG26-03NT41916
- OSTI ID:
- 886857
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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