Basement imaging: Insights throughout the Unconventional Shale reservoirs

Abstract

Basement plays a dominant role in establishing sedimentary basins conducive to hydrocarbon generation. An understanding of the basement can often provide critical insights into the horizons deposited above it, including in the shale reservoirs. Acoustic measurements provide valuable insights into the rock properties of an unconventional shale reservoir, revealing key attributes like fracture density, fracture orientation, and brittleness. But sweet spot locations are often driven by factors that extend below the shale, including variations in basement topography and composition. For example in the Arkoma Basin of USA, oscillations in the topography of the basement can expose source rock intervals to differential heat levels, affecting thermal maturation regimes and the resulting liquids-generation potential of source rock and shale zone intervals. In addition, the basement might be intersected by lineaments and faults that can play a part in the deposition, thermal maturation, and fracture distribution of the Woodford Shale reservoir interval. The integration of gravity, magnetic, and 3D seismic data helps to map sedimentary features, study the relationships between sedimentary and basement features, and reveal key drivers of reservoir performance beyond the Woodford Shale in the Arkoma Basin. The combined power of seismic and potential field methods gives better position to target high production, liquids-rich intervals throughout the entire development area.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90221 © 2015 Mid-Continent Section, Tulsa, Oklahoma, October 4-6, 2015