TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of depositional and diagenetic features on petrophysical and rock mechanical properties in Arab-D reservoir equivalent upper Jubaila Formation, Saudi Arabia
AU - Chandra, Viswasanthi
AU - Petrovic, Alexander
AU - Khanna, Pankaj
AU - Ramdani, Ahmad I.
AU - Yalcin, Bora
AU - Vahrenkamp, Volker
AU - Finkbeiner, Thomas
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-05-06
Acknowledgements: We thank the reviewers and editors for providing us their feedback and suggestions to improve this manuscript. We thank Dr. Dave Cantrell for suggesting the outcrop and drill location in Wadi Laban as well as supporting communication with Saudi Aramco and Fugro-Suhaimi. We are grateful to Saudi Aramco for helping with the necessary government permits to drill the DQ core. We thank Schlumberger for providing access to Petrel and Thermofischer Scientific for PerGeos. We thank Akbar Wicaksono and Gaurav Gairola for their contribution to the core description. The funding for this research was provided by ANPERC- KAUST.
PY - 2021/4/20
Y1 - 2021/4/20
N2 - This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of multiscale geological, petrophysical and rock mechanical data acquired from 35 m of outcrop well core from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) Upper Jubaila Formation, Saudi Arabia. In this location the sequence is a typical shallow marine heterogeneous carbonate sequence and a direct analogue to a part of the prolific Arab D reservoir sequence in the subsurface towards the east. Four main lithofacies types were identified with a general shoaling upwards trend, varying from nodular bioturbated peloidal mudstone/wackestone facies to sharp-based intraclast-peloidal, skeletal rudstone/floatstone facies. The mineralogy in the upper section of the well cores is predominantly calcite, while the lower section is also comprised of some dolomite and quartz. Stratiform dedolomitization as a telogenetic overprint is only evident in the upper 18 m of the core and controlled by vertical flow of meteoric fluids. The core plug porosity distribution is lower than that of the subsurface equivalent reservoir zones, and is attributed to meteoric cementation. Thalassinoides burrow features in mudstone and wackestone facies in the upper sections of the core control horizontal permeability distribution at the centimeter to meter-scale. Micrite morphology and dedolomitization appear to be key controls on plug permeability, rock strength and sonic velocity. Based on the trends observed in compressive rock strength, p-wave velocity and plug porosity distributions, the cored section was divided into five main rock mechanical layers. Despite reduced porosity, the average compressive rock strength in the outcrop core is lower than that of the Arab-D subsurface equivalent rocks, indicating overall ‘weakening’ of the rock due to telogenetic processes and surface weathering.
AB - This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of multiscale geological, petrophysical and rock mechanical data acquired from 35 m of outcrop well core from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) Upper Jubaila Formation, Saudi Arabia. In this location the sequence is a typical shallow marine heterogeneous carbonate sequence and a direct analogue to a part of the prolific Arab D reservoir sequence in the subsurface towards the east. Four main lithofacies types were identified with a general shoaling upwards trend, varying from nodular bioturbated peloidal mudstone/wackestone facies to sharp-based intraclast-peloidal, skeletal rudstone/floatstone facies. The mineralogy in the upper section of the well cores is predominantly calcite, while the lower section is also comprised of some dolomite and quartz. Stratiform dedolomitization as a telogenetic overprint is only evident in the upper 18 m of the core and controlled by vertical flow of meteoric fluids. The core plug porosity distribution is lower than that of the subsurface equivalent reservoir zones, and is attributed to meteoric cementation. Thalassinoides burrow features in mudstone and wackestone facies in the upper sections of the core control horizontal permeability distribution at the centimeter to meter-scale. Micrite morphology and dedolomitization appear to be key controls on plug permeability, rock strength and sonic velocity. Based on the trends observed in compressive rock strength, p-wave velocity and plug porosity distributions, the cored section was divided into five main rock mechanical layers. Despite reduced porosity, the average compressive rock strength in the outcrop core is lower than that of the Arab-D subsurface equivalent rocks, indicating overall ‘weakening’ of the rock due to telogenetic processes and surface weathering.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/669089
UR - https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0264817221001793
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85104722334&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2021.105076
DO - 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2021.105076
M3 - Article
SN - 0264-8172
VL - 129
SP - 105076
JO - Marine and Petroleum Geology
JF - Marine and Petroleum Geology
ER -