Evaluating Reservoir Architecture in the Northern Gulf of Mexico Using Oil and Gas Chemistry
Authors: Westrich J.T. , Knigge P.O. , Fuex A.N. , Halpern H.I. 
Published: December 2007

(*Now at Saudi Aramco)

A post-development study was carried out at Bullwinkle Field in the Gulf of Mexico to 1) develop and test geochemical methods for evaluating reservoir architecture, 2) establish confidence in reservoir geochemistry technology, and 3) provide a framework for surveillance work at Bullwinkle. In line with previous work, this study shows how fluid fingerprinting can be used to obtain improved reservoir architecture interpretations. Geochemistry is a low-cost direct approach for determining reservoir architecture. When data are integrated with results from other tools and techniques, the final result is improved decision-making and production efficiency for both development and redevelopment projects.

Introduction

Throughout the life of an oil or gas field — from the time the count and placement of the first development wells are planned, to when the last well is sidetracked and/or recompleted — a critical operational issue is the continuity and compartmentalization of reservoir units. Over the last 5-6 years, a number of papers have demonstrated that a variety of geochemical tools can be used to better define and constrain reservoir architecture interpretations, especially when resulting data are integrated with other geological, geophysical, and engineering information.

Geochemical fingerprinting technology has a number of advantages:as opposed to many static tools and methods, geochemical compositional data can be a direct indicator of fluid-flow barriers, much like PVT and production data,most geochemical tools/methods have low costs and fast turn-around times, andthe ability to work with core samples provides the opportunity for greater coverage, especially in areas with multiple stacked pay such as the Gulf of Mexico.

Despite the applicability and promise of this new technology, its true value is not widely recognized in the industry. Consequently it is not applied as much as it could be in appraisal, development, and re-development projects. In our view, the primary reason for this lack of recognition/use is that a variety of issues and problems need to be addressed to increase our level of understanding about this technology. Only then will this technology be used to its full potential.

To help alleviate this situation, a geochemical study of the petroleum in the Bullwinkle Field was carried out to 1) identify the optimum analytical techniques and interpretation methods for application studies in the Gulf Coast area, 2) increase confidence in reservoir geochemistry technology through a series of well-calibrated case studies, and 3) participate in surveillance work aimed at planning subsequent redevelopment work for the field.

Study Area and Methods

Bullwinkle field (Green Canyon 65 and 109) is considered a combination stratigraphic/salt-flank trap (Fig. 1), The lower Pleistocene "J" sand package, which contains over 90 percent of the reserves at Bullwinkle, was mapped originally as four separate pay intervals (J1 through J4). Of these, the J2 sand (Fig. 2) contains the bulk of the recoverable reserves and has an estimated column height of about 1600 ft. Partly because of its size and importance, the J2 pay zone was the primary focus of this study. As discussed in this paper, the J2 pay interval is divided into the J2-RA and J2-RB reservoirs (Fig. 2). A comprehensive set of oils (n=18) and associated (dissolved) gas (n=16) samples, taken from nearly all of the initial oil producing wells, were analyzed in this study.

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