The Value of Integrated Borehole Image Analysis to Refine Geological Models: An Example From the Greater Burgan Field, Kuwait

Resistivity image logs are high-resolution tools that can help to unravel the depositional and structural organisation in a wellbore. They provide a particularly powerful dataset when calibrated against core, maximising their benefit for reservoir characterisation. This paper shows examples how very detailed image assessment from selected wells in the Greater Burgan Field has helped to constrain the stratigraphic model and depositional interpretations of the Cretaceous Burgan and Wara reservoirs. A multidisciplinary study of 123 cored wells, integrating core sedimentology, petrography, bio- and chemostratigraphy, wireline well and resistivity image logs, has delivered a robust stratigraphic and depositional framework for one of the most important reservoirs in the world's largest siliciclastic oil field. A descriptive image facies scheme that has been calibrated against core and conventional well logs captures the lithological variation, sedimentary features and surfaces of the reservoir, providing a detailed proxy for the sedimentological evaluation of uncored intervals and wells. The sand-rich lower Burgan (4S) comprises fine to very coarse-grained fluvial channel sandbodies that are locally separated by laterally restricted mudrock baffles. Image and core analyses suggest that the majority of the sandstones are high-angle cross-stratified and form stacked barforms within amalgamated channel sandbodies. Their consistent orientation towards the NE-E supports a low-sinuosity (braided) fluvial system resulting in a relatively simple, sheet-like depositional architecture across the field. Although slightly finer grained, the cored middle Burgan channel sandbodies (3SM) are similar to those in the lower Burgan. However, palaeoflow data from the imaged wells show a higher directional spread in the order of c.60-90° with a dominantly N to E orientation of the sandy barforms. Careful analysis of the orientation of the bounding surfaces between the sandstone packages indicates nearly equal proportions of obliquely and roughly parallel dip orientations in some wells. This suggests the formation of at least some lateral (point) bars and possibly the presence of higher sinuosity channels implying that sandbody architecture and fluid flow pathways could be more complex in the middle Burgan relative to the lower Burgan. The examples from the Burgan and Wara Formations highlight the value of integrated image analysis for reservoir characterisation by delivering a consistent descriptive framework, embedding different datasets.