A Study in Quantifying Thin-Bedded Pay Contribution Within a Deltaic System in the Columbus Basin

Abstract

The objective of this study was to systematically and quantitatively quantify where production from Thin – Bedded Pay may be more challenging using conventional methods of completion. This study will focus on different areas within the deltaic environment in which Thin – Bedded Pay are prominent. A 3D structural model was built and populated with properties to represent four (4) different main classes of geological environments with a deltaic system. It explored the effect of completing across the conventional sands only vs completing both the conventional and secondary units. The main finding in this thesis is that completing the thin-bedded pay increased the overall rate of the production on average of about 10% in different environments. In addition, in complicated reservoir architecture environments such as the upper slope and distal delta slope environments, there are significant (14% and 10%) incremental increases in the recovery factors by completing across these thinly bedded zones. Thus, it is recommended that these environments be further explored in how best to develop the thin-bedded resource in these environments since, in a time when the finite resources of oil and gas are becoming scarce, it is important to understand what reserves we may have that are not currently being tapped into.