ABSTRACT: Miller Field, a Subtle Upper Jurassic Submarine Fan Trap in the South Viking Graben, United Kingdom Sector, North Sea

N. M. McClure, A. A. Brown

The Miller field is situated at a depth of 4 km in the South Viking Graben, some 270 km northeast of Aberdeen, Scotland. The field was discovered in 1983 in previously relinquished UK Licence Blocks 16/7b and 16/8b. The discovery can be attributed to a detailed understanding of the regional sedimentological and seismic velocity models that predicted the presence of submarine fan sediments within a structural nose some 10 km away from the graben margin sediment source.

The field reservoir comprises up to 100 m of oil-bearing Upper Jurassic, Brae Formation turbidites. Cores, electric logs, and well test analyses show the turbidites have excellent reservoir qualities. Porosity ranges from 12 to 23%, and net:gross ratios are typically greater than 0.75. The reservoir is highly productive with permeability typically in the range of 50 to 1200 md.

The reservoir fluid is an undersaturated, CO₂ -rich, sour, 37.5° API oil sourced from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, which overlies and interfingers the reservoir. The oil is trapped by a subtle combination of structural and stratigraphic mechanisms.

The field will be developed using 30 wells drilled from a single platform. A total of ten wells (five producers and five injectors) will be pre-drilled through a template prior to platform installation. The first of these was spudded in March 1989 in preparation for first oil production planned for early 1992. Ultimate recovery is estimated to be around 300 MM STB and 0.57 tcf of associated gas.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91000©1990 AAPG Conference-Giant Oil and Gas Fields of the Decade 1978-1988 Conference, Stavanger, Norway, September 9-12, 1990