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Date of Award
2019
Document Type
Campus Access Master's Report
Degree Name
Master of Science in Geophysics (MS)
Administrative Home Department
Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences
Advisor 1
Roohollah Askari
Committee Member 1
Roger Turpening
Committee Member 2
James DeGraff
Committee Member 3
Mir Sadri-Sabet
Abstract
On the shelf and slope regions off of the northern Gulf of Mexico coast, salt dome structures have resulted in significant amounts of petroleum accumulation relative to other trapping mechanisms in the region. Due to their abundance and relatively low exploration risk, salt-dome-style traps have been paramount to the Gulf’s petroleum industry over the last 80 years. It is therefore important that these domes be studied to determine how salt movement through time and space influences hydrocarbon migration and entrapment. This field study focuses on the salt dome at the Eugene Island (EI) 205 lease block. Though exhibiting a similar developmental history, EI 205 has produced approximately 75% less crude oil relative to adjacent domes based on present day crude oil production totals.
The objective of this study was to determine the cause of this discrepancy by determining whether reduced accumulation at EI 205 was a result of variable reservoir properties, or historic salt and hydrocarbon migration through differential spatial deformation. New full-azimuth nodal (FAN) 3D seismic depth data with supporting time domain data were primarily used in this study, along with well log, sidewall core, paleontological and production data. By mapping interval thickness between paleontological time horizons as well as fault networks, it was concluded that the reduced oil production at EI 205 resulted from EI 205 having experienced significantly less faulting, and consequently less hydrocarbon migration, relative to adjacent salt domes. Additional deformational events that affected adjacent salt domes allowed for higher rates of oil migration into their respective traps, whereas the initial low migratory rate of oil and lower intensity of deformation at EI 205 resulted in most of its oil remaining in deeper reservoirs.
Recommended Citation
Pletcher, Ben, "Determination of Reduced Salt Dome Hydrocarbon Accumulation Using Full-Azimuth 3D Seismic Data: A Case Study", Campus Access Master's Report, Michigan Technological University, 2019.