Petrophysical analysis of the unconventional reservoirs of the Lennard Shelf and Fitzroy Trough in Canning Basin, Australia
Valeri Shelokov A B , Robert Hull A , Tony Rudge A and Perry Richmond AA Black Mountain Exploration, 425 Houston St Ste 400, Fort Worth, TX 76102, USA.
B Corresponding author. Email: Valeri.Shelokov@gmail.com
The APPEA Journal 61(2) 714-719 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ20087
Accepted: 12 February 2021 Published: 2 July 2021
Abstract
A US operator with a commitment to future drilling, stimulation and testing of unconventional wells has initiated a new evaluation to better define and understand the hydrocarbon plays along the northern margin of the Canning Basin’s Lennard Shelf and Fitzroy Trough. The goal of the evaluation is to determine the commercial viability of the region. In this paper, an integrated petrophysical hybrid model that has been calibrated to core data is highlighted. From this model, multiple play types were identified, including an unconventional siltstone-shale play, a conventional basin-centred tight gas play and a fractured tight gas play with potential analogs to North American unconventional plays. Six primary lithofacies were identified through the integration of thin section analyses, core descriptions, logs and petrophysical models. The results were calibrated to high-resolution formation image data to better understand the thin-bedded nature of these plays. The lithofacies were also utilised for defining core poro/perm transforms. Furthermore, an integrated descriptive mud log algorithm was utilised to define the types of hydrocarbons, including wetness, balance and ratios as the hydrocarbons’ fingerprints. Significant gas influxes were noted at the intervals with highly permeable beds, at swarms of fractures and faults, as well as within the organic rich layers. In this study, a pressure top seal for the Laurel Formation was defined as well as the highlights of one well, which includes 11 zones and over 389 m of net pay behind pipe. The significance of this work is that it highlights a path forward for unconventional development that, if economically viable, would provide increased energy independence for Australia.
Keywords: Canning Basin, Lennard Shelf, Fitzroy Trough, Laurel Formation, Anderson Formation, tight gas, fractured formation, petrophysical hybrid model, unconventional petrophysics, unconventional resources, basin-centred gas, reservoir characterisation, carboniferous.
Valeri Shelokov is a petrophysicist with over 19 years of diverse experience in analysing worldwide conventional reservoirs (complex siliciclastic and carbonate) and unconventional resource plays (tight-oil, tight gas and shale-gas formations). He received his MSc degrees in hydrology engineering from Tomsk State University, Russia and in petroleum engineering from Heriot Watt University, UK. He has expert level and extensive practical experience in source rock analysis: integrating variety of data into consistent reservoir models to predict formation properties and potential of hydrocarbon recovery. Val has been a lead petrophysicist in multi-disciplinary teams (production optimization, business development, technology and geomechanics) collaborating with assets, drilling, engineering and completion teams to find the solutions for routine and emerging problems (2002–2005 YUKOS EP Russia, 2005–2011 Marathon Oil), as well as 8 years of specialised experience working with Pioneer Natural Resources (2011–2019) on the Permian Basin. He has worked for Black Mountain most recently on the Canning Basin. |
Robert Hull is a geoscience and innovations advisor for Geophysical Imaging providing consulting services on the key knowledge of reservoir and completions interactions observed though various technologies to better optimise and develop unconventional resources both domestically and internationally. He has extensive experience in development, exploration and exploitation geosciences and geophysics in unconventional shales and is a theme lead for the Unconventional Resources Technology Conference in the USA. Over the past few years, he has been working on the Canning Basin for Black Mountain as well as other international unconventional projects. Before starting up his company, he was a geotechnical specialist at Pioneer Natural Resources for 19 years. At Pioneer, he worked at the senior level in the Geophysical Technology Group as a leader in 3D seismic, microseismic, geomechanics and fibre optics. He also provided interpretations for the Permian Basin, Barnett Shale, West Africa and South Africa for Pioneer. Prior to Pioneer, Hull worked as a geophysical specialist for Maxus Energy, YPF and Repsol in the USA and Indonesia. He holds a Bachelors in Geology from the University of Rochester and an MS in geosciences from the University of Texas at Dallas. |
After graduating with an MSc in geophysics from Monash University, Tony Rudge has spent the last 20 years working onshore Australia in a variety of basins. Previous employers include CGG, Central Petroleum and Buru Energy where he has acquired seismic data and potential geophysical surveys across of onshore environments. For almost the past 4 years, he has worked as independent geophysical consultant to a wide range of clients within Australia and overseas. |
Perry Richmond serves as a senior advisor of Reservoir Engineering for Black Mountain Oil and Gas. Perry has over 35 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, predominantly at ARCO and Pioneer Natural Resources, where he directed numerous field development projects in a wide variety of reservoir types. He possesses diverse skills and experience in many aspects of reservoir engineering, including waterflooding, miscible flooding, gas condensates, tight gas, coalbed methane and shale development. Perry holds a BS degree in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University. |
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