Analogs to the San Andres Horizontal Play? A Fresh Look at the - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Analogs to the San Andres Horizontal Play? A Fresh Look at the Glorieta – Yeso Play in Southeastern New Mexico

December 2018

Steve Melzer* Evan Allard**

With Considerable Assistance & Advice from R. Trentham, UTPB

* Consulting Geological Engineer ** Summer Intern, CO2 ROZ Conference and Graduating Senior, UTPB

Outline of Talk

• Introduction
• Benchmarking: The San Andres ROZ
• The Permian Basin Carbonate Shelf Settings
• The Two San Andres ROZ Plays
• The Story of Two Different Sub-Basins (Midland &

Delaware)

• The Glorieta-Yeso (ROZ?) Play
• Passing Comments on the Deeper Abo Formation

“Flip” Your Mind to ROZ Thinking

• Transition Zone (TZ) Thinking has long been a

Hindrance to Advancing Reservoir Understanding in the O&G Industry

• Having said that, Transition Zones Do Exist!
• Residual Oil Zones (ROZs) are a Broader Concept

– Reservoir Rocks and Oils Are Often Affected by Mother Nature’s Water Flooding – Can be Much Thicker and Have Substantial Economic Value – Are Most Often Due to Later-stage Tectonics (Post-Entrapment) – Can Occur Where no Main Pay Zones Exist (“Greenfields”)

• Opening One’s Mind to the Reservoir Evolution and

Changing Properties Above Can be Essential

Paleogeographic Map of the Permian Basin with its Two Major Sub- basins (Delaware and Midland) and Nearby Regions

Permian Basin Stratigraphic Chart* (Permian Only)

* Adapted from Kerans, C. C., Bureau of Economic Geology, PBGSP Annual Meeting, 2/27-2/28/06, Austin, TX

The Two San Andres ROZ Plays

1) CO2 EOR 2) Horizontal Well Depressuring

The San Andres ROZ Mapping

Yoakum County

Examples: ROZ Profile Types (Greenfields)

The Seminole ROZ

The Idealized Seminole ROZ (Type A Profile)

~250’ Thick

1) CO2 EOR in the ROZ

2) The Horizontal San Andres (ROZ) Play

The Six-County Study Area1 Together with the Horizontal Wells and Mapping2 of the San Andres Residual Oil Zones

Residual Oil Drives New Resource Play, Melzer, L.S. (2018), Amer Oil & Gas Reporter, Oct (PBIOS) Edition, October 2018

Identifying and Developing Technology for Enabling Small Producers to Pursue the Residual Oil Zone (ROZ) Fairways in the Permian Basin San Andres Formation, Trentham, R.C., Melzer, L.S. & Vance. D. (2016), Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America and U.S. Dept of Energy Final Report, www.netl.doe.gov/file%20library/research/oil-gas/10123-17-final-report.pdf

450 Laterals Making 35,000 bopd as of May ’18

We Need to Show How the San Andres ROZ Studies Provide Insights to Another On-going Horizontal Play but First: The Story of Two Different Permian Sub-Basins (Midland & Delaware)

The Two Sub-Basins

• The Western (Delaware) Sub-basin of the

Permian Basin was a very Deep Basin in the Late Pennsylvanian and Early Permian Ages

• The Eastern (Midland) Sub-basin was Shallower
• The Wolfcampian Series (Late Pennsylvanian

and very Early Permian was the era when both Sub-basins began to fill

• The Midland Sub-basin Filled First and the

Delaware Much Later

Basin Geometry Impacts on Commerciality

• The Deeper the Basin, the Thicker the Source of

Hydrocarbons

• The Deeper the Basin, the Steeper the Basin

edge Slopes are to the Rimming Sediments (Carbonate Shelves)

• The Deeper the Basin, the More Likely there are

Stacked Reservoirs in the Carbonate Shelves since the Geographical Position of the Basin Rims Remain Relatively Fixed*

* We are assuming here that subsidence and/or uplift tectonics are relatively inactive as the Basin Fills

Conceptualized Image of Stacked Reservoirs at the Shoreline Around a Deep Basin

Regions of “Stacked” Reservoirs

In Shallower Basins…

• The Slopes to the Basin Sediments are gentler

and the Rimming Sediments Prograde into the Basin as the Basin Fills

• The Area Occupied by the Basin Shrinks over

Time

• The Midland Basin Shows this Trend During the

Periods from the Wolfcamp through Lower San Andres to Grayburg

This Looks at the Midland Sub-basin

Meanwhile, the Delaware Sub-basin remained of Relatively Constant Size

* Adapted from Original Work by Bob Ward, Gulf Oil, Pers. Comm, 1992. Modified by Bob Trentham, 2007

*

Image of Prograding Basinward Reservoirs at the Shoreline Around a Shallow Basin

Note the Huge Expanses of the Flat Carbonate Shelf (Sabkha)

Animation of the Interglacial Flooding Event in Lower San Andres

To see animation of interglacial flooding in the Lower San Andres, see “Interglacial Flooding” Animation at http://melzerconsulting.aptapb.com/residual-oil-zones/

Deep and Shallow Basins: Rimming Shelves

The Effect of the Depth of the Basin on the Shelf Surrounding the Basin Can Be Dramatic

• The Width of the Inner and Outer Carbonate Ramps (IR

& OR) where the Reservoir Quality Rocks (i.e., missing the finer-grained sediments) are located can be much wider

• Geological Time Scale Sea Level Changes (even fairly

minor ones) can broaden the Reservoir Quality Rock in IR & OR

• The Salt Flats or Sabkha can be Very Large in Areal

Extent

Carbonate Shelves Rimming Deep and Shallow Basins

Deep Basin

To see animation of deep vs shallow Basin Effects on the carbonate shelf reservoirs, see “Deep & Shallow Basin” Animation at http://melzerconsulting.aptapb.com/residual-oil-zones/

Deep Basins:

Why is this Important?

• Deep Basins have Huge Thicknesses of Organic-rich

Sediments that can Hold Large Volumes of Oil to be Exploited with Horizontal Wells

• Those Basins are Rimmed with Stacked Reservoirs

which can be Receptacles for Migrated Oil and be Accessed with Single Vertical Wells

• An Analog to this is the Delaware Sub-basin, its

Northwestern Shelf and West Side of the Central Basin Platform

Shallow Basins:

Why is this Important?

• Shallow Basins have Wide (Lateral) Expanses of

Reservoir Quality Rocks

• Sea Level Changes can Provide Reservoir Quality

Rocks Over Large Lateral Distances

• Large Expanses of Reservoir Quality Rocks can Host

Very Large Volumes of Oil and Provide Avenues (Flush Fairways) for Natural Water Floods Leading to Large Areal Extents of Residual Oil Zones

• An Analog to this is the Midland Sub-basin and its North

Shelf and East Side of the Central Basin Platform

The Glorieta – Yeso Horizontal Play

Key Diagnostics for Identifying (Type 3) Carbonate Reservoir ROZs

Using Experience from the San Andres ROZ Studies

• Excellent Mud Logs Shows of Oil (and Gas) but Drill Stem Tests

and/or Production Tests Making only Sulfur Water w/ a “Trace of Oil”

• Conventional Whole Core Test Results with 8-20% Oil Saturations

(So) – Oil Wet Rock

• Reservoir Trends Showing ‘Fairways’ (allows Sweep Pathways)
• Tilted Oil/Water Contacts for the Main Pay Zones
• Horizontals Making Large Volumes of Sulfur Water often with

Delayed Oil Production that is Sour Oil

• Pervasive Dolomitic Lithologies
• Slightly Low to Very Low Produced Water Salinities When

Compared to MPZs

• Suppressed Methane & Enhanced H2S, CO2 & NGL Gas

Compositions

• Bow-shape Porosity and Resistivity Logs

Additional Factors to Consider

Interbedded (or Stacked) MPZs and ROZs

• Andrews County San Andres and the Gl-Yeso Formation

Profiles Occasionally Show Some Evidence of ROZs with Interbedded (isolated and unflushed) Main Pay Zones

• “Shingles” on Top of the ROZ are not Uncommon –

Provide Immediate Oil Confusing the Longer-lived (large Reservoir) ROZ Production

• Where Can the Sweep Water Come From?

– Sacramento Mtn Outcrop – Transmissive Fault Path From Another Reservoir?

• What About the Sweep Water Discharge?

32

Glorieta/Yeso Reefal Trend (NM)

Main Pay Zones

Artesia Carlsbad

Glorieta-U. Yeso Type Logs

Resistivity Log Fm Density Log Mud Log

Reference Map for Following Cross Sections

Carlsbad

Stratigraphic Cross Section of the Yeso Formation Showing the Porosity Trend in the Glorieta - Upper Yeso (Datum – Top of Glorieta Formation)

Structural Cross Section of the Yeso Play (Datum – Minus 900 Feet Mean Sea Level)

Artesia

400’

Passing Comments About the Deeper Abo Formation (Better Documented in Literature)

• Lies Immediately Below the Yeso Fm
• Also is a Carbonate Shelf Trending in the Same

Position as the Yeso (Stacked Fomations)

• Possesses Even More Evidence of ROZ

Characteristics including a Documented Tilted Oil/Water Contact in the Empire Abo Field

• Better Analog to Gl-Yeso than the San Andres

Permian Basin Stratigraphic Chart* (Permian Only)

* Adapted from Kerans, C. C., Bureau of Economic Geology, PBGSP Annual Meeting, 2/27-2/28/06, Austin, TX

39

Abo Reefal Trend Map in New Mexico

After Lemay (1960), Southwestern Federation of Geological Societies Transactions, Oct 12-14, 1960

Eddy Co. Lea Co.

40

Abo Cross-Section Through Major NM Fields

After Lemay (1960), Southwestern Federation of Geological Societies Transactions, Oct 12-14, 1960

Note: Tilted OWC

41

Empire Abo Map Illustrating Down to the East Tilted OWC

After Lemay (1960), Southwestern Federation of Geological Societies Transactions, Oct 12-14, 1960

Note: OWC Tilt = ~200’ in 10 miles

Summary of Presentation

• ROZ Concepts Appear to Apply to Both the

Glorieta-Yeso Horizontal Play and to the Deeper Abo Formation in SE NM

• The Actual Sweep Zone Appears to be in the

Interval of the Glorieta & U. Yeso

• If the Interval is actually a ROZ, the Longevity of

Production will be Greater owing to the Sweep and Required Lateral Continuity of the Sweep within the Interval

Gl-Yeso & San Andres Production Longevity?

Curves Derived by Taking all Monthly Crude Oil Production from Horizontal Wells in the Play & Dividing by the Monthly Number of Wells