Utilizing a personal computer to predict depositional environments in the McAllen-Pharr field area, Hidalgo County, Texas

Conference · Sat Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA)

OSTI ID:5967828

McGhee, M D ^[1]

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1. Michal D. McGhee and Associates, Houston, TX (USA)

The McAllen-Pharr field area, located in the Rio Grande Embayment of South Texas, is associated with rapid deposition of siliciclastics, growth faulting, and a variety of depositional environments. The interval of interest consists of 6,000 to 10,000 ft of Oligocene-age Frio formation sands and shales. Utilization of a personal computer assisted in delineation of three different depositional environments. Data from 282 wells were integrated to define mappable horizons and generate structure, isopach, sand-silt-shale ratio, and production maps. Well logs from 67 selected wells were digitized and analyzed over the area. Well-log curves included spontaneous potential, gamma ray, deep, medium, and shallow resistivities, sonic, caliper, density, and compensated neutron, Hydrocarbon production from the field area has surpassed 1.1 tcf (3.1 {times} 10{sup 3} M{sup 2}) and 1.3 MMBO (2.1 {times} 10{sup 3} M{sup 2}). Detailed analysis and use of the computer utilizing available data indicate three major depositional environments: nearshore deltaic sheet sands, longshore or tidal offshore bar sands, and deepwater turbidites. Actual deltaic or closely associated environments are rare or nonexistent. The area exhibits structures normally associated with growth faulting and structural reversal. Two trends of faults intersect across the structure and each trend influenced deposition at different times. Hydrocarbons accumulated in a variety of traps including structural, stratigraphic, and combination traps. Computer mapping of rasterized production intervals overlaid upon associated structure maps allowed rapid recognition of hydrocarbon trapping mechanisms for each interval of interest. This study demonstrates that detailed computer analysis and manipulation of large amounts of data can be performed by the geologist using a personal computer.

• OSTI ID: 5967828
• Report Number(s): CONF-9010204--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA) Journal Volume: 74:9
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000 -- Geosciences
CALIPER LOGGING
CENOZOIC ERA
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
DATA
DATA ACQUISITION
DATA BASE MANAGEMENT
DATA COMPILATION
DEPOSITION
ELECTRIC LOGGING
FEDERAL REGION VI
GAMMA LOGGING
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGIC TRAPS
INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT
MAPPING
MAPS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NEUTRON LOGGING
NORTH AMERICA
OIL FIELDS
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
PRODUCTION
RADIOACTIVITY LOGGING
RESERVOIR ROCK
RESISTIVITY LOGGING
RESOURCES
ROCKS
SAND
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SHALES
SILT
SONIC LOGGING
TERTIARY PERIOD
TEXAS
USA
WELL LOGGING