Integrated Charge and Reservoir Evaluation

Frontier Areas; East Coast Canada

RESULTS

Present and Past Distribution of Petroleum

Petroleum Type and Quality

Proximal Undrilled Pay

Bypassed Pay

Seals and Reservoir Compartments

Temperature and Timing of Petroleum Migration and Porosity Occlusion

• Flemish Pass: Baccalieu I-78; Kyle L-11

• Carson-Bonnition: St. George J-55; Skua E-41

• South Whale: Heron H-73; Puffin B-90; Tern A-68; Brant P-87

TOOLS

Fluid Inclusion Stratigraphy (volatile mapping)

Fluid Inclusion Petrography

Fluid Inclusion Microthermometry

API Gravity of Petroleum Inclusions

Reservoir Quality Assessment

Fluid Inclusion Technologies, the University of Aberdeen and Continental Labs are conducting an evaluation of petroleum charge and reservoir quality in key frontier wells from the Flemish Pass, Carson-Bonnition and South Whale areas, East Coast Canada, to be offered as a non-exclusive study in support of the upcoming license round.  The foundation for this study is fluid inclusion volatile analysis (Fluid Inclusion Stratigraphy or FIS) of 8 wells.  Detailed fluid inclusion petrography, geochemistry and rock description will follow on potential reservoir sections that show significant FIS anomalies (possible migration pathways, paleo-hydrocarbon columns or present-day hydrocarbon columns).

Classical geochemical techniques that analyze residual pore fluids are often inadequate for determining where petroleum fluids have been, and are typically hampered by contamination, fractionation and alteration issues.  Subsurface fluid processes leave resolvable chemical traces in the form of crystallographically trapped fluids in diagenetic cements and healed microfractures.  These fluid inclusions are not subject to evaporation during sample storage or loss of light ends during sampling from depth.  They persist in the geologic record long after the parent fluids have moved on, but are continuously formed even up to the very recent past.  Hence, fluid inclusion studies have the potential to provide a detailed account of petroleum distribution and charge history.

In addition to questions surrounding charge history, reservoir quality is often a key risk factor in exploring for deeply buried reservoirs.  Generally, compaction and quartz cementation are identified as key reservoir destroyers in these environments.

The proposed study will evaluate both charge and reservoir risk for the 8 frontier wells identified above.  If sufficient interest exists, a second phase may be proposed in which additional wells would be evaluated and a predictive model for reservoir quality could be established.

Delivery date: September 30, 2000.  Pricing: $15,000 USD before Jul 15; $20,000 thereafter (based on a minimum level of participation); project details subject to change.

www.fittulsa.com

Fluid Inclusion Technologies &

Continental Laboratories

"An Alliance for Innovation"

Phone: (403) 250-5125

Fax: (403) 291-9556

Analytical Program

Project Description

Fluid Inclusion Stratigraphy

8 key wells will be analyzed for their fluid inclusion volatile content with the Fluid Inclusion Stratigraphy (FIS) volatile mapping technique.  Full-well profiles of key inorganic and C1-C13 organic species will be constructed from FIS results.  These data will be interpreted in terms of petroleum inclusion presence, type and quality, possibility for deeper or lateral proximal pay, and prominent seals or reservoir compartments.  FIS results and stratigraphic information will determine samples on which the following detailed analyses will be performed.

Fluid Inclusion Petrography

Zones within the analyzed wells that show elevated FIS hydrocarbon responses will be evaluated for their aqueous and petroleum inclusion populations via thin section analysis under plane light and UV illumination.  Fluid inclusions will be characterized in terms of their relationship to the host (e.g., in cements or healed microfractures), fluorescence characteristics, origin (generated locally from intercalated source rock, or migrated into the section from a deeper kitchen) and suitability for determining quantitative information.  Multiple petroleum populations will be distinguished and placed into a relative chronology.

Fluid Inclusion Microthermometry

Based on the results of the previous analyses, samples will be selected for quantitative fluid inclusion microthermometric determinations. Salinities and homogenization temperatures will be collected for aqueous inclusions.  API gravity and bubble-point or dew-point temperatures will be evaluated for petroleum inclusions.  Temperature data can be integrated with burial history models to assess timing of petroleum migration events, reservoir charging and cement formation.  API gravities coupled with bubble-points or dew-points of petroleum inclusions will be combined with FIS data to evaluate hydrocarbon type and quality.

Reservoir Quality Assessment

Where FIS anomalies occur in potential reservoir sections, quantitative reservoir quality assessments will be performed.  This will include point counting of rock constituents (framework grains and cements) and porosity.  These data will be supported by selected SEM analyses (e.g., photography, elemental analysis and CL assessment of healed microfractures in quartz grains).  The purpose of this step is to evaluate the potential for effective hydrocarbon reservoirs within intervals that have seen charge.