Degree
Master of Science
Program
Geology
Supervisor
Cheadle, Burns A.
Abstract
The Upper Cretaceous Second White Specks Formation – an organic-rich, calcareous mudrock succession within the lower Colorado Group – is a prolific self-sourcing tight oil reservoir in Alberta. Due to the low porosity and permeability of this interval, localized natural fracture networks have previously provided the only means for oil to flow at economic rates. This study, focused in west-central Alberta, used allostratigraphic methods to subdivide the Second White Specks Formation into allomembers that define hydraulic flow units. The petrophysical properties (porosity, organic content, clay volume, and brittleness) of each allomember were modelled using a basic suite of geophysical wireline logs and sparse core data. When overlain with historic oil production results, modelled petrophysical parameters delineated previously unrecognized “sweet spots” that likely have increased oil potential. Applying the innovative petrophysical workflow developed in this study may increase the likelihood of drilling successful wells in similar exploration scenarios with limited datasets.
Recommended Citation
Marion, Kienan P., "Integrating Petrophysics and Allostratigraphy to Find Sweet Spots in the Upper Cretaceous Belle Fourche and Second White Specks Alloformations, West-Central Alberta, Canada" (2018). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 5440.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/5440
Brittleness values.xlsx (15 kB)
XRD Major Oxides.xls (38 kB)
LECO TOC.xls (22 kB)
Brittleness index.py (3 kB)
Kerogen-corrected total density porosity.py (3 kB)
GR correction for hole size and mud weight.py (2 kB)