Todays Lecture

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Reservoirs

Prof. Christoph Heubeck

Institut fr Geologische Wissenschaften
Freie Universitt Berlin
Malteserstr. 74-100
12249 Berlin
GERMANY
ph: ++49-(0)30-83870695
cheubeck@zedat.fu-berlin.de

fax: ++49-(0)30-83870734
http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~cheubeck/

Todays Lecture: Reservoirs

What is a reservoir ?
What types of reservoirs exist ?
Why study petroleum reservoirs ?
Three examples

What is a Petroleum Reservoir ?

A petroleum reservoir is an accumulation
of oil (and gas) in porous rock.

Links and Literature

A reservoir is that volume of rock that occurs downdip of a seal
and updip of the 100% Sw oil-free level. The HCs in the pores are
in pressure- and Sw-equilibrium with the free-water level.

What kind of reservoirs ?

carbonate reservoir facies

Siliciclastic
Carbonate
Fractured

Marine embayment
Sabkha/tidal flat
Restricted shelf/lagoon
Open shelf
Nearshore bar/beach
Offshore bar
Platform/ramp margin shoal
High-energy ramp
Pinnacle reef
Patch reef
Reef mound
Barrier reef
Fringing reef
Skeletal bank
Mud-rich reef mound
Mud-rich skeletal bank
Karst-related detrital wedge
Debris flow/turbidite
Pelagic
Coquina bank

C&C reservoirs

Siliciclastic reservoir facies

Not deep-water
Alluvial fan

Meandering river
Braided river
Straight/anastomosing river

Mixed aeolian/fluvial
Erg
Lacustrine delta
Shoreline/shelf
Estuary
Coastal plain
Tidal flat
Barrier-island/lagoon
Strandplain/chenier
Shoreface-shelf

Delta
Glaciofluvial
Lacustrine river-delta
Lacustrine fan-delta
Fluvial-dominated delta
Wave-dominated delta
Tide-dominated delta
Mixed-influence delta
Marine fan-delta

Fractured reservoirs

Deep-water
Debris flow/turbidite
Pelagic
Sublacustrine fan

Gravel-rich slope/basin
Mud-rich slope/basin
Submarine canyon
Slope apron

Submarine-fan channel
Submarine-fan lobe
Submarine-fan lobe
Submarine-fan channel levee

C&C reservoirs

BASEMENT
BURIAL DOLOMITE
CARBONATE SAND
CHERT AND SILICEOUS SHALE
COAL BED
FORESLOPE CARBONATE
FORESLOPE CHALK
FORESLOPE CHERT
MICROPOROUS CHERT
MICROPOROUS DIATOMITE
MICROPOROUS DOLOMITE
MICROPOROUS LIMESTONE
MUDDY CARBONATE
MUDDY DOLOMITE
ORGANIC BUILDUP
SHALE
SHALE AND SILTSTONE
SHELF CHALK
SILICEOUS SHALE
TIGHT SANDSTONE
VOLCANICS
KARSTIC/ CARBONATE SAND
KARSTIC/ MUDDY CARBONATE
KARSTIC/ MUDDY DOLOMITE
KARSTIC/ ORGANIC BUILDUP
LOW-RESISTIVITY SANDSTONE
TIGHT CONGLOMERATE
TIGHT SANDSTONE

Zhanjiajie, Hunan Province

The view of your Petroleum Engineer

A reservoir is a tank to be drained

Questions you need to answer

Why study Petroleum Reservoirs ?

What is the most efficient way to empty the tank ?

What do I need to know about its internal structure ?
What obstacles am I likely to encounter ?

One of the main objectives of reservoir geology evaluation is to

examine the impact of reservoir heterogeneities on reservoir
behaviour.

How is permeability (k) and porosity () related ?

Levels of Reservoir Heterogeneity

Grain and Pore Scale

Flow patterns,
drainage efficiency,
vertical and lateral sweep efficiency

k, So/Sw , flow,
formation damage

0.11m

1-10
cm

1- 100
m
0.1-10
mm

http://www.creationresearch.org/vacrc/sem02.html

Hairy Illite
RotliegendesProblem

0.1-10
km
1-100

HC volume,
areal distribution,
play trends

Kaolinite

Reservoir Heterogeneity Matrix

Low

Moderate

Vertical Heterogeneity

The geological and reservoir properties of sedimentary rocks depend

upon an interplay of tectonics, sea level, sediment supply, physical and
biological processes of sediment transport and deposition, and climate.

Low

Moderate

High

Wave-dominated delta
Barrier core
Barrier shoreface
Sand-rich shoreface

Delta-front mouth bar

Proximal delta front
Tidal deposits
Mud-rich strand plain

Meander belt
Fluvially-dominated
delta
Back barrier

Eolian
Wave-modified delta
(distal)

Shelf bars
Alluvial fans
Fan delta
Lacustrine delta
Distal delta front
Wave-modified delta
(proximal)

Braided stream
Tide-domainated delta

Basin-floor turbidites

Coarse-grained meander belt

Braid delta

Back barrier
Fluvially-dom. delta
Fine-grained meander
belt
Submarine fans

High

Lateral Heterogeneity

Depositional Environments
10000

Beach

Barrier Bar
1000

How is permeability (k) and porosity () related ?

DEs take influence
through grain size,
sorting, clay content,
mineralogy

Reservoir-Scale: 3-Dimensionality; Heterogeneity

Air Permeability (mD)

Tidal Flat
Tidal Ridge

100

10

Navajo Sandstone, Utah

olische Dnen

Lagoon
Average and
Limits of
porosity and
permeability

Swamp

Kmax ?
K min ?

max ?
min

0,1
0

After Nagtegaal, 1978;

modified from Selley, 1998

10

15

20

25

30

Namib

35

Porosity (%)
http://www.bdrg.esci.keele.ac.uk/Staff/mountney/sedimentary_research/sed_research_frames.htm

Instructions from a Guru

(Bob Sneider)

What data are available ?

Data Type

Use

Core (slabbed or oriented)

Sidewall cores
Cuttings
Thin sections

Facies, dep environment

Paleocourrent directions
Mineralogy, lithology
Mineralogy, lithology

Paleontology (micro, macro, traces),

Palynology

Water depth, dep environment, time

line; pcurrent direction, lithofacies

Logs
FMS / FMI
SP,GR
Sonic, density, neutron

Pcurrent directions, lithofacies

Lithology, curve shape analysis
Porosity, curve shape analysis

Repeat Formation Tester

Pressure (sand body connectedness)

How is permeability (k) and porosity () related ?

Three samples of
~21 % porosity

Basin scale

CoreLab Promotionary
Material

Three samples of
~21 % porosity

Three samples of
~21 % porosity

CoreLab Promotionary
Material

CoreLab Promotionary
Material

Deep-water fan morphology

Slope
Upper Fan

Channels

Overbanks

Lobes

How does depositional

environment affect reservoir
properties ?

ChannelMouth Bar
Mid-Fan
Lobes

Lobes

Lobes

Lobe
Fringe

Basin Plain
Lower Fan

Example: Model of deep-water fan morphology

Reservoir potential of turbidite facies

Mutti
Facies

Principal
Environment

Proximal
Channel

Distal Channel

Lobe

Lobe Fringe

Overbank

Slope

Basin Plain

Lithology
ms

ss

cgl

Layer
Thickness

Lateral
Continuity

Depositional
Porosity

Reservoir
Potential

Poor good

low

Low

10 100

high

high

Prudhoe Bay Field, Alaska

Three Examples

Prudhoe Bay Field, Alaska

Seneca Field, Ohio
Pecos Field, Alberta

All scanned graphs from articles in

John H. Barwis, John G. McPherson, Joseph R.J. Studlick, 1990, Sandstone
Petroleum Reservoirs (Casebooks in Earth Sciences): Springer Verlag New York,
582 p.

Prudhoe Bay Field, Alaska

Prudhoe Bay Field, Alaska

http://www.arcticphoto.co.uk

http://www.channel6.dk/native/uk/page214.html

Permian braid-plain stream

and gravelly delta deposits

Prudhoe Bay Field, Alaska / Salar del Carmen, N Chile

Prudhoe Bay Field, Alaska / Sierra de Argomedo, N Chile

Prudhoe Bay Field, Alaska / Sierra de Argfomedo, N Chile

Prudhoe Bay Field, Alaska

Vertical view
from bridge,
south of
Santa Cruz

Type log
Lithology
Permeability
Porosity
Depositional
Environment

Relationship between petrophysical and geological parameter

Which facies has the better reservoir quality ?

Seneca Gas Field

Seneca Gas Field: Log-correlation

Lower Silurian isopach map (in

ft) in SE Ohio showing 3 major
depositional lobes

10

Seneca Gas Field: Core sketches

Seneca Gas Field: Sand Isopachs

Seneca Gas Field: Sand Isopachs

Seneca Gas Field: Sand Isopachs

Mander

Altwasser (abgeschnittener
Manderarm)
Gleithang

Prallhang

Flussaue
Gleithang

Manderhals (zuknftige
Abkrzung des Flulaufs)

11

Seneca Gas Field: Sand Isopachs

Seneca Gas Field: Detailed isopach mapping

Birdfoot Delta geometry

Peco Gas Field: Structural Cross section

Peco Gas Field: Structure Map Top Reservoir

Anticline in footwall of thrust sheet

12

Peco Gas Field: Type log description

Peco Gas Field: Stratigraphic cross-section Through Peco A, N Pool

Fining-upward fluvial
facies

Thickness and lateral

extent of reservoir

Peco Gas Field: Facies, reservoir character

Lectura

Practica

9:15-10:45

11:30-13:00

Lectura
15:15-16:45

Lu

Lectura 1 / 2 (Introduction;
The petroleum system)

Lab 2 (Internet
resources)

Lectura 3 (Geochemistry: Origin of

HC; organic matter, source rocks,
accumulation. The "petroleum
kitchen")

Ma

Lectura 4 (porosidad,
permeabilidad)

Lab 4 (Porosity
calculation)

Lectura 6 (The reservoir: Lithology,

geometry, and facies. Reservoir
characterization and management)

Mi

Lectura 5 (Reservoir
petrophysics: capillary
pressure, pore-size
distribution, bound water
etc.)

Lab 5 (Bound
water, capillarity
exercise)

Lectura 7 (Reservoir engineering:

Drive mechanisms, phase behavior,
production problems, scale
formation etc.)

Ju

Lectura 9 (Logging
concepts and tools;
quantitative evaluation of
lithology, fluids, and
porosity)

Lab 9 (Logging
exercise)

Lectura 8 (Geophysics in
exploration and reservoir
management)

Vi

Lectura 10 (Exploration:
Hydrocarbon classification
of basins; play types)

Lab 10 (Petro
Mod)

Lectura 11 (Summary: Reserves

and Resources, unconventional HC)

13

Links and Literature

Links
http://www.ccreservoirs.com/reservoirtypes.htm
(3 lists of approx. 300 fields in each category;
along with some short description / classification:
good enough for a start).
Literature
John H. Barwis, John G. McPherson, Joseph R.J.
Studlick, 1990, Sandstone Petroleum Reservoirs
(Casebooks in Earth Sciences): Springer Verlag
New York, 582 p.

14