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Integrating full-bore formation micro-imager (FMI) data for Niobrara reservoir characterization, Postle area, Wattenberg field, Colorado, USA
Hillman, Eric A.
Hillman, Eric A.
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2023
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Abstract
The Ancestral Rocky Mountain orogeny formed the paleo-Denver Basin approximately 300 million years ago and was followed by the Laramide orogeny that created the present-day Denver Basin. The Western Interior Basin existed between the orogenic events during the Cretaceous. Deposition of the Niobrara Formation in the Western Interior occurred when interactions between the warm paleo-Gulf of Mexico waters flowed northward and the cooler currents from the Artic flowed southward. The Niobrara Formation lithologies represent periods of fluctuating sea-level conditions resulting in the deposition of chalks, marls, sandstones, and shale cycles. The Wattenberg Field is in the Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin in northeast Colorado, north of Denver across the synclinal axis of the Denver Basin and covers approximately 81 townships.
The Wattenberg Field development and production started in 1970, with the majority of production coming from vertical drilling of the Lower Cretaceous J Sandstone. The Upper Cretaceous Niobrara and Codell Formations became important producers in the 1980s. In addition, production in the Wattenberg Field is found in the Dakota, D Sandstone, Greenhorn, Terry, and Hygiene Sandstones. Continuous hydrocarbon accumulations are common throughout the Field. The Wattenberg gas Field is one of the largest natural gas fields in the United States, with resource estimates from the Niobrara being approximately 3-4 billion barrels equivalent (BBOE).
This study will include a detailed fracture characterization of the Niobrara Formation in the Postle area of the Wattenberg Field, which will help characterize both natural and induced fractures within the Niobrara Formation. Formation micro-resistivity image (FMI) log interpretation indicates a strong orientation preference created through hydraulic stimulation and suggests that the present-day stress orientation is not a result of reorientation due to production and stimulations. Interpretation of the image log data can establish the spatial geometry of the natural and induced fractures within the wells and will help characterize the fractures that help produce hydrocarbons by hydraulic stimulation.
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