Reservoir characterization of fluvial systems, with examples from Rocky Mountain region

Conference · Fri Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1989 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA)

OSTI ID:5571057

Chapin, M; Mayer, D ^[1]

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1. Colorado School of Mines, Golden (USA)

Outcrop and subsurface geologic and engineering data have been integrated to evaluate interwell to intrafield-scale stratigraphic heterogeneities and their controls on fluid flow for two Rocky Mountain area reservoir systems. Exposures of the Tertiary Colton Formation in the Sunnyside oil-sand quarry near Price, Utah, illustrate geometries within an exhumed oil reservoir. Flow units were inferred by correlating petrophysical properties (porosity, permeability, relative permeability, capillary pressure, residual saturations) derived from outcrop samples with facies geometries. A similar procedure was employed to map potential flow units along a 2-mi, two-dimensional section of measured surface sections and near-surface cores of the Cretaceous J sandstone near Morrison, Colorado. Lessons from outcrop geometries and petrophysical property distributions were applied to a subsurface study of the Peoria field, Denver basin, in which separate reservoir units correspond to discrete genetic units within the fluvial system. Although near-surface diagenesis affects the absolute values of petrophysical properties, their distribution with respect to facies is consistent from surface to subsurface. Detailed two-dimensional (cross-section) numerical flow simulations were employed to evaluate the importance of various types of heterogeneities identified from the outcrop examples under a variety of flow conditions. Three-dimensional, two-phase simulations and known production history are being used to evaluate subsurface flow-unit analysis. Detailed numerical simulation experiments are also being used in order to evaluate scaling-up procedures for including the effects of important small-scale heterogeneities in a coarse grid.

• OSTI ID: 5571057
• Report Number(s): CONF-8910195--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA) Journal Volume: 73:9
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
CENOZOIC ERA
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
GEOLOGY
MESOZOIC ERA
MINERAL RESOURCES
MOUNTAINS
PERMEABILITY
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
POROSITY
RESERVOIR ROCK
RESOURCES
ROCKS
ROCKY MOUNTAINS
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
STRATIGRAPHY
TERTIARY PERIOD