Gas-producing submarine-fan channel-levee complexes in Forbes Formation, Arbuckle Field, central Sacramento Basin, California

Conference · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:6776290

Imperato, D P; Nilsen, T H

The Campanian Forbes Formation was deposited as a southprograding basin-plain, deep-sea fan and slope turbidite system in the Late Cretaceous Great Valley forearc basin of California. Gas production from the Arbuckle field is from the middle deep-sea fan deposits of the Forbes Formation at depths of 5,500-7,000 ft. The field is located approximately 7 mi east of the western erosional margin of the Sacramento basin, where the Forbes Formation crops out and dips steeply to the east. The field has a proven acreage of 3,450 and contains 25 producing wells. A north-trending anticline, which is present on the regional easterly dip, provides 150-200 ft of closure in the southern part of the field. Detailed maps and cross sections of the gas-producing intervals of the Forbes Formation in the Arbuckle field have been constructed from correlation of 77 well logs and detailed examination of the nearby outcrops. Well-log correlations and sedimentary facies identified in outcrop indicate that the gas-producing intervals are chiefly channel-levee complexes in a mud-rich deep-sea fan system. These channel-level complexes trend southward, are slightly sinuous, and are as much as 1 mi wide. A comparison of structure-contour maps with net-sandstone maps and gas production data indicates that not all gas production is structurally controlled. Channel-axis sandstone that is as thick as 250 ft generally produces gas only within structural closure, whereas thinner, more shale-rich, channel-margin and levee deposits produce gas from updip stratigraphic pinch-outs into interchannel shale.

• OSTI ID: 6776290
• Report Number(s): CONF-880301-
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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03 NATURAL GAS
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ANTICLINES
CALIFORNIA
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
DATA ANALYSIS
EXPLORATION
FEDERAL REGION IX
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
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SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SHALES
STRATIGRAPHY
USA