AAPG Hedberg Conference
Vail, Colorado
April 24-29, 2005
Platte River Associates, Inc., 2790 Valmont Road, Boulder, CO 80304 USA
One of the cited conditions that leads to the development and persistence of a low permeability gas
accumulation (
basin
-
centered
gas
) is that the rate of thermal
gas
generation exceeds the bleed-off or up-dip migration rate. It is thought that the supply of
gas
, relative to the rate of loss can lead to the creation of over-pressured cells.
Burial history modeling of the Jonah Field / Pinedale anticline area (NW Green River basin, Wyoming) suggest that the majority of gas
generation for late Cretaceous source rocks (Mesaverde and Rock Springs equivalents) occurred between ~70 to 35 Ma (Figure 1 a-f). The main
gas
generation pulse begins at ~50 Ma following a rapid increase in sedimentation rate.
Gas
generation culminates approximately 5 Ma after maximum burial and continues for 5 to 10 million years after reaching maximum
gas
generation rate (Figures 1 b,c,e,f). The source rocks continue to generate at a low rate until the late Miocene.
Multiple lines of evidence point to a late Miocene (10-5 Ma) regional uplift in the NW Green River basin that resulted in the erosion of 3000 to 6000 feet of sediment. Providing that heat flow did not increase during this time frame, source rocks would have experienced a reduction of temperature of 50 to 65 deg F. This cooling, coupled with relatively high transformation ratio levels (at Rock Springs level in the deep basin,
Figure 1f) causes hydrocarbon generation from the modeled type III kerogen to essentially cease. Therefore, the prevailing basin
-
centered
gas
model that requires generation to be greater than migration is not supported by the burial and thermal history modeling.
An additional cited condition to support a ‘basin
-
centered
gas
accumulation’ states that the generated
gas
has difficulty both in migrating and simultaneously displacing water from the system due to the extremely low permeability of that system. Basin models suggest that when hydrocarbon generation first begins, the reservoir unit immediately above or below a maturing source bed may have porosity approaching 17 to 18 percent (Figures 2 a & b). Although modeled reservoir porosity may vary significantly depending on the original mineralogy and diagenetic history of the reservoir, our models indicate that the Lance and other upper Cretaceous formations would have sufficient reservoir quality to allow
gas
migration and water displacement.
This presentation will focus on evaluating some of the possible causes of low permeability gas
accumulations using basin modeling techniques and scenarios to test whether the accepted causative agents can effectively coincide to form and maintain the long-term persistence of these accumulations. From a basin modeling perspective, we will also review the current level of understanding of high uncertainty petroleum system elements such as; thermal history, source rock kinetics and expulsion.
Figure 1.
Comparison of burial histories at Jonah vs. Pinedale and resulting
gas
generation timing.
Figure 2. a) SHB
13-27 – Mesaverde
gas
generation compared to compaction curves for modeled
reservoirs; b) SHB 13-27 – Rock Springs
gas
generation compared to compaction
curves for modeled reservoirs.
Copyright ©2005. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All Rights Reserved.