Nested approaches to modelling swamp and fluvial channel distribution in the Upper Juandah Member of the Walloon Coal Measures, Surat Basin
Fengde Zhou A , Daren Shields A B , Stephen Tyson A and Joan Esterle BA The University of Queensland
B School of Earth Sciences
The APPEA Journal 56(1) 81-100 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ15008
Published: 2016
Abstract
Laterally discontinuous coal measures are common in alluvial settings due to interaction with fluvial systems. Under these conditions it is difficult to accurately represent coalbeds and interburden sandstone bodies in static and dynamic models at a regional scale. These challenges are compounded in the Walloon Coal Measures by non-uniform drill spacing, which varies from clustered to sparse and insufficient outcrop exposures available to constrain the correlations.
To address these issues, this study investigates a nested approach to facies modelling of the Upper Juandah Member of the Jurassic Walloon Coal Measures in the Surat Basin, Queensland, which contains some 3,600 wells, of which half were analysed for lithofacies distributions. This approach contrasts the application of truncated Gaussian simulation, object modelling and multiple-point geostatistical simulation.
First, a regional scale structural model was developed based on the correlation of sub units within the basin and the lithofacies were then interpreted from normalised wireline logs. Then geometries of individual facies were defined from two local scale models (~6 × 6 km2) where dense drilling, 3D seismic and paleocurrent analysis data were available to constrain the models. Three training images, generated by object modelling, an analogue of one part of the Ob River, and an interactive method were subsequently used to model primary channels, channels and crevasse splays, respectively. Truncated Gaussian simulation was used in modelling the distribution of marginal and coal swamp. The final model is a combination of the model with primary channels and channels, and the model with marginal and coal swamp.
This approach is the first trial in modelling swamp and channel distributions at a regional scale by integrating data from local models, depositional analogues and paleo-flow interpretation in the Surat Basin.
Fengde Zhou received his PhD in petroleum engineering from the China University of Geosciences (CUG) in Wuhan, China. He is a research fellow at The University of Queensland’s (UQ) School of Earth Sciences. Before he joined UQ, Fengde was a visiting fellow from June 2008 to December 2009, and a postdoctoral research associate from 2011–15 at the School of Petroleum Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW). Fengde is one of the editorial board members of the Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. He is interested in reservoir characterisation, reservoir geological modelling, and numerical simulation for conventional and unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. f.zhou@uq.edu.au |
Daren Shields holds a bachelor’s degree from Simon Fraser University, a master’s degree from the University of Aberdeen, and is now a PhD candidate at UQ. He has worked as a petroleum geologist for operators and consultancies in Canada, the US, Australia and Malaysia. daren.shields@uq.net.au |
Stephen Tyson joined UQ in January 2013 after working for 30 years in the petroleum industry, mostly in reservoir characterisation and stochastic modelling. Stephen is leading CCSG research projects in the area of geoscience including mathematical modelling, particularly reservoir modelling, and geological profiling. Stephen was appointed as an Honorary Research Fellow of the Australian School of Petroleum in 2003, an indication of the respect and experience he has within this area of research. s.tyson@uq.edu.au |
Joan Esterle has 20 years of coal geology experience. She has a PhD and MSc in coal geology from the University of Kentucky. Joan was a senior scientist at CSIRO, and now holds the Vale Chair of Coal Geoscience in UQ’s Earth Sciences Department. Her research interests are varied, but focus on how geological history impacts on coal behaviour during mining, processing and use. She also develops 3D models for the distribution of sedimentary strata that can be used to predict geohazards in coal mines. j.esterle@uq.edu.au |
