An Integrated Workflow Of Petrophysics, Rock Physics And Geomechanics For Formations In The Delaware Basin

Abstract

Summary Delaware Basin is one of the most prolific oil and gas basins in North America. The most drilled targets in the basin are Avalon, Bone Springs and Wolfcamp formations. The main constituents of these formations are a heterogonous mixture of organic mudrocks, siliciclastics and carbonates. Due to the complex nature of these lithologies, it is necessary to perform an integrated workflow to extract finer details from seismic to understand and characterize the unconventional targets. In this study, we show a thorough petrophysical analysis and then establish relationships between petrophysical properties of the rock (such as porosity, minerology, pore geometry, and total organic content) to the geophysical measurements (elastic properties) and show geomechanical analysis for Avalon mudrocks and the Bone Springs formation. This integrated workflow serves as a foundation for extrapolating the well data into a 3D reservoir characterization using seismic inversion. Finally, the results can help in searching for sweet spots and decisions on landing, fracking zones for optimal production.