MICROSTRUCTURAL AND GEOMECHANICAL CHARACTERISATION OF FAULT ROCKS FROM THE CARNARVON AND OTWAY BASINS

Abstract

The results of natural and laboratory-induced fault behaviour from wells in the Otway Basin are compared with sample material from a producing Carnarvon Basin field where rocks from a fault zone have been cored. Capillary pressure, microstructural and juxtaposition data obtained from these fault rocks indicate a capability to hold back gas columns in excess of 100 m, yet many fault closures are found to contain only palaeo-columns. Trap failure is usually attributed to reactivation of trap-bounding faults, often during Miocene-Recent times in these basins. Faults susceptible to reactivation can be predicted by geomechanical methods involving the determination of the in-situ stress field and the orientation and dip of faults with respect to that stress field. Failure envelopes of fault rocks have been determined to estimate reactivation potential in the present day in-situ stress field. This approach works well where fault rocks are weaker than the host reservoir sandstone, but may not be applicable where fault rocks are stronger. In fields where the latter is the case, intact hydrocarbon columns are present, irrespective of whether faults are optimally oriented for reactivation. This indicates that the assumptions of zero cohesive strength and constant friction coefficient for predicting the reactivation potential of fault rocks may not be completely reliable.