Petroleum Geology: From Mature Basins to New Frontiers – Proceedings of the 7th Petroleum Geology Conference
‘The Proceedings of the 7th Petroleum Geology Conference is the seventh in a series that has become a tradition known as the ‘Barbican’ conferences. They started life over 35 years ago, in 1974, with a focus solely on North-West Europe, and have a reputation, both from the conferences and the accompanying Proceedings volumes, of being at the forefront of petroleum geoscience; the standard reference for successive generations of petroleum geoscientists.
North-West Europe has matured as a petroleum province and, at the same time, the conference series has matured to be a truly global event.
These Proceedings embrace many of the world’s petroleum provinces in a two-volume set. There are sections on Europe, which still provides the heart of the Proceedings; Russia, the former Soviet Union and Circum-Artic; North Africa and the Middle East; Passive Margins; and Unconventional Hydrocarbon Resources.
In addition, the three Geocontroversies debates, highly acclaimed at the conference, are included, as is a summary of the Core Workshop. A DVD complements the books and, in addition to providing electronic versions of all the papers also includes selected posters and video clips from the Virtual Field Trip session; the latter being a major success at the conference. The Proceedings volumes of this seventh conference are therefore a ‘must’ for every petroleum geoscientist’s bookshelf.
3D seismic mapping and porosity variation of intra-chalk units in the southern Danish North Sea
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Published:January 01, 2010
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CiteCitation
T. Abramovitz, C. Andersen, F. C. Jakobsen, L. Kristensen, E. Sheldon, 2010. "3D seismic mapping and porosity variation of intra-chalk units in the southern Danish North Sea", Petroleum Geology: From Mature Basins to New Frontiers – Proceedings of the 7th Petroleum Geology Conference, B. A. Vining, S. C. Pickering
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Abstract
Deposition of the Upper Cretaceous–Danian Chalk Group in the Salt Dome Province of the southern Danish Central Graben took place during a tectonic period dominated by post-rift subsidence, halokinesis and structural inversion. This resulted in highly variable chalk distribution with >1300 m of chalk located in synclines and <200 m preserved on inversion highs and salt structures. The area is mature with respect to exploration with most of the chalk fields located in structural traps discovered in the 1970s. However, the Halfdan discovery in 1999 illustrates the existence of off-structural traps, leading to renewed exploration interest. To locate additional off-structural traps, a detailed geological model is necessary for prediction of chalk intervals with reservoir potential. To unravel basin development, we combine 3D seismic interpretation, well log correlation and 2D seismic inversion to estimate acoustic impedance along selected profiles. The 2D acoustic impedance profiles are converted to total porosity and used to identify areas with potential untargeted reservoirs. A prominent high-amplitude reflection is interpreted as a regional unconformity separating two distinctly different chalk deposition patterns. Nannofossil biostratigraphy suggests a latest Campanian to early Maastrichtian age for the unconformity. It corresponds to an increase in acoustic impedance and decrease in porosity in wells. The Tor Formation contains porous intervals while the underlying Hod Formation contains less porous chalk. The Hod Formation has a maximum porosity of <20% based on well log and inversion data. In contrast, inversion data indicate that the Tor Formation comprises reservoir-grade porosity at several locations on downflank structures. In several areas, the inversion-based maximum porosity is predicted to be higher than expected, compared with porosity/depth trends derived from well data. Therefore, the spatial porosity variation in chalk is complex and controlled by factors other than burial depth.
- algae
- Atlantic Ocean
- basin inversion
- biostratigraphy
- carbonate rocks
- Central Graben
- chalk
- Denmark
- Europe
- geophysical methods
- geophysical profiles
- geophysical surveys
- microfossils
- nannofossils
- natural gas
- North Atlantic
- North Sea
- petroleum
- petroleum exploration
- Plantae
- porosity
- reservoir rocks
- salt domes
- Scandinavia
- sedimentary rocks
- seismic methods
- seismic profiles
- structural traps
- surveys
- three-dimensional models
- traps
- well-logging
- Western Europe
- southern North Sea
- Rolf Field