Geology Project Assignment Help-Beaver Lodge Field

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Geology Project Assignment Help-Beaver Lodge Field

Topic; Beaver Lodge Field

Main focus of study is the Mission Canyon Formation located in Williston Basin’s Beaver Lodge Field in Williams County, North Dakota.,(Under the Madison Group).

 

First part of report:

  • Executive summary: include overall procedures and what is the main goal of these studies (all of them together).

 

  • ABSTRACT

 

  • Regional Overview

4) Geological Setting:

  • Basin
  • Formation that you have been assigned

5) Filed description:

  • Geology of your field
  • History of your field in terms of development/production/etc.

6) Summary

References

Second part of report:

Well log interpretation and petrophysical analysis

  1. Well Log and Petrophysical Analysis
  2. Drilling Location Assessment and Selection
  3. PROJECT Methodology (Using Neuro, Petra)
  4. Objective
  5. Data Gathering
  6. Data Interpretation
  7. Data Preparation
  8. Field Visualization

D.      Results

  1. Cross Plots
  2. Cross Section

3. Contour Maps

  1. Conclusions/Recommendations

F.       APPENDIXES

  1. References

 

 

Executive Summary Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the lower Lodgepole Formation of Eland oil and gas field in North Dakota and to design a well based on petrophysical analysis of rock properties. The overall history of the formation of the Lodgepole Formation that lies in the Williston basin has been studied to better understand how petroleum has been generated, document how it is extracted and treated today and devise a plan for future production. The process for analyzation includes research based from scholastic articles, research papers, analysis of logs and other such data available from the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC) website. After collection of useful data, parameters and features can be quantified using engineering software’s such as NeuraLog, Petra, Petrel and Computer Modeling Group (CMG). These softwares are essential for evaluating rock parameters and identifying hydrocarbon plays, petrophysical analysis, geomechanics evaluation and well design. [1]Eland Field is deemed one of the most prolific Lower Missippian Lodgepole mound complex to date in the Williston Basin, containing some of the top total cumulative oil producing wells.

Geological Setting

 

Basin Regional Overview

The Williston Basin is a sedimentary basin that covers western North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and also into parts of Canada. The basin sits above a Precambrian geologic basement covering about 15,000 square miles. Geologically, the Williston Basin is roughly circular in shape, reaches its deepest point near the center and then becomes much shallower and thin towards the edges. The greatest depth observed is roughly 16,000 feet deep around the Williston, ND area.

The basin’s development dates back to the Precambrian time with the development of the Trans-Hudson orogeny, which is the north east-southwest trending Proterozoic lineament and structural zone. As it is known today, the folding of the Trans-Hudson orogeny was a result of tectonic collision. The majority of the structural deformation that occurred in the basin happened during the Phanerozoic era, which include vertical uplift of the basement rock. This resulted in the presence of trapping structures, both anticlines and syncline structures in which hydrocarbons were trapped. The specific trapping structures we look at today are the Nesson, Cedar Creek, Little Knife, and Billings anticlines. These were all activated by Precambrian faults during the Proterozoic era in which weak zones developed and formed the anticlines.

The major source of hydrocarbon in the basin was formed by marine and swamp environments near shallow coastal waters. As the sea cycled and levels receded, marine life was deposited into the source rocks of limestone and dolomite. Over millions of years, sediments deposited in these shallow waters adding layers of lithology that are seen today. Deposition of the sediments started in the Cambrian time, but the filling of the basin occurred mostly during the Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian periods. The main producing formations in the basin include the Mission Canyon, lodgepole, Bakken, and Three Forks. The last two of those formations are the most prolific producers of hyrdocarbons in North Dakota. The first oil in the Williston Basin was produced out of the Cedar Creek Anticline in the mid 1920’s, while today the majority of production comes from the Nesson Anticline. The Williston Basin currently produces 1-1.2 million barrels of oil equivalents per day.

Formation

A formation is a group of rocks, called a “unit,” which share a few or multiple common properties, such as composition and in situ condition. For the purposes of this report, and all subsequent reports for this Research Design project, the formation of interest will be lower Lodgepole of the Madison Group in the Williston Basin’s Eland Field.

The Madison Group is a stratigraphic unit from the Mississippian Period in the Williston Basin. It located directly beneath the Kibbey Formation and directly above the famous Bakken Formation, and consists of three related, but individual formations. In descending order, they are Charles at 370 ft thick, Mission Canyon at 540 ft thick, and Lodgepole at 770 ft thick.* The unit is informally subdivided into over a dozen of stratigraphic intervals, of which Charles and Mission Canyon each contain a plethora, while Lodgepole contains a single one, the Bottineau Interval.[2] Each formation shares a similar lithology: Charles consists of limestone interbedded with evaporates, Mission Canyon consists of limestone interbedded anhydrite and dolomite, and Lodgepole, limestone and dolostone. The carbonate nature of lower Lodgepole is visible in the khaki coloring of core samples, such as the one displayed in Appendix A, Figure 1.

Lower Lodgepole dates back to the early Mississippian period, when a deep sea covered what is now Eland Field. It consists of three steep-sided mounds ranging from 250 to 320 ft thick, from 0.5 to 1 sq. mile in area, and circular to tabular in shape.[3] The mounds are, in fact, bioherms and were originally likened by LeFever et al. (1995) to Waulsortian mud mounds in Ireland and Belgium. However, this analogy was inaccurate; unlike Waulsortian mounds, which are rich in early Mississippian micrites, lower Lodgepole’s bioherms are composed of bryozoan- moss animal- matter, the product of microbial boundstones and skeletal grainstones cemented and re-cemented together over time.[4] Although, its matrix is highly fractured and contains a plethora of large vugs, it has low porosity values, with a mean of only 4.5%. However, according to Young et al. (1998) its porosity system is highly connected hypothetically as a result of clastic dikes at the bioherms’ edges, differential compaction, and tectonic stresses.

Lower Lodgepole’s three mounds are, in fact, the coalescence of smaller, individual mounds over millions of years. They act as reservoir rock, with the majority of their oil and gas originating from below in Upper and Lower Bakken Shale.

 

 

Field Description

The Eland Oil and Gas Field is located in the southwestern region of North Dakota, lying mainly in the city of Dickinson it covers an area of about 6 mi2. This field was discovered by Duncan Oil who drilled the Knopik #1-11 well about two miles to the southwest of the Dickinson Field on December 22nd, 1994. This discovery well was drilled as part of Duncan Oil’s second phase of Lodgepole drilling, looking for potential production as shown from the Conoco 74 Dickinson State well that had been drilled a few months before. The Conoco 74 had shows of vuggy porosity and abundant crinoidal and fenestral bryozoan remains, which contrasted the normality of Lodgepole Formation causing an interest in further exploration. The Eland Oil and Gas Field was one of six fields to be discovered by Conoco, the expansion drilling near the Dickinson Field area was sparked by the findings of productive mounds that exist in the lower Lodgepole formation.

Geology

The Lodgepole is made up of several shale-to-limestone cycles that are expressed as clinoforms of a progradational carbonate platform. The Lodgepole Limestone is the lowermost formation in the Madison Group and consists of gray to dark gray, argillaceous to shaley or silty, thin to medium bedded limestone. The Mission Canyon Limestone is the central formation within the Madison Group and consists of thickly bedded to massive, fossiliferous to oolitic carbonates.

 

The uppermost formation within the Madison is the Charles Formation, which is made up of anhydrite and halite with interbedded carbonates and shales.  The lowermost limestone,

known as the Scallion Limestone, can be naturally fractured and acts as a local reservoir, while the overlying shale, known as the False Bakken or Carrington Shale, may act as a source rock. The Bakken petroleum system consists of the Devonian Three Forks Formation, The Devonian- Mississippian Bakken Formation, and the Mississippian Lodgepole Formation. The Three Forks consists of interbedded mudstone and dolomite that acts both regionally as a basal seal and locally as a reservoir. The Bakken is informally divided into three members: upper and lower, organic-rich, black-shale members, and a silty to sandy, dolomitic to calcareous middle member. In North Dakota, the lowermost Lodgepole is also productive from large bioherms composed of crinoids, and lime mud.

 

History

In 1993 Continental Oil Co. (Conoco) first discovered Waulsortian-type carbonate mud mounds composed in the subsurface Mississippian Lodgepole formation. This discovery was made by an exploratory well drilled for Ordovician-Silurian testing in Dickinson field, Stark County, North Dakota. Prior to these testing, the Lodgepole formation had been deemed as a low-volume, tight, sporadic reservoir across the Nesson anticline. However upon drilling the Conoco 74 Dickinson State well in 1993, data shows of a 280 ft thick carbonate rock contrasting this theory. The well was drilled to a depth of 12,855 feet through the Upper Ordovician Red River Formation, with shows of wetness and completed at 419 bbl/d. From the findings of this well a phase of exploratory wells searching for potential reservoirs were implemented. Data obtained illustrated Dickinson and newfound fields contained a buildup of a Waulsortian-type mound. [5]In 1994 Duncan Oil opened up the Eland field and on December 22nd drilled the exploratory well of Knopik #1-11 two miles southwest of the Dickinson Field.

Since the Dickinson and Eland Field discovery wells were completed, seven additional Lodgepole mound oil fields have been discovered in Stark County. These fields include Duck Creek, West Dickinson, Subdivision, Hitline, Versippi, and Patterson Lake. In 1996 there was an estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) of 12-15 MMbbl from its 16 producing wells, however as of September 2015 over 29.65 MMbbl have be produced. As of today the field has a total of 16 producing oil wells, similar to the 15 they had in 1995.  [6]From its discovery well in 1994 to October 1, 2015, Eland Field has produced over 29 MMbbl 55MMbbl of water, 16 Tcf of gas with over 95 MMbbl of water being injected. Seven of the ten best wells in the U.S. portion of the Williston Basin are Lodgepole mound prodcers, with three of the best being in the Eland Field.

 

Future Work

  • Reseach
  • Viable data analyzation
  • Petrophysical analysis
  • Core analysis
  • Geomechanical analysis
  • Create time table

Summary

[1] Vol. 53, No. 1 | www.rmag.org

[2] https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/resources/

[3] archives.datapages.com/data/bulletns/1994-96/images/pg/00800006/0750/0795.pdf

[4] archives.datapages.com/data/mountain-geologist-rmag/data/053/053001/pdfs/29.pdf

*Note: All measured parameters are with regard to the Lodgepole Formation in Eland Field.

[5] Burke, R., and P. Diehl, 1995c, Discoveries of oil in Waulsortian mounds in the Lodgepole formation, Williston basin: Houston Geological Society Bulletin, June 1995, p. 41–44.

[6] Kent, D. M., F. M. Haidl, and J. A. MacEachern, 1988, Mississippian oil fields in the northern Williston basin, in S. M. Goolsby and M. W. Longman, eds., Occurrence and petrophysical properties of carbonate reservoirs in the Rocky Mountain region: Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, p. 381–418.

 

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