The sediments of Sahaiawei-1 Well in the Northern Delta Depobelt are represented by sand and shale alternation. Lithofacies characterization and X-ray diffraction technique were used to characterize the sediments from the well in order to characterize the lithofacies, identify the minerals present, determine environment of deposition and identify potential zones for hydrocarbon exploitation. The lithofacies characterization was based on the textural properties, mineralogical composition, fossil content, homogeneity and heterogeneity of the lithofacies units of the well. The lithofacies analysis for Sahaiawei-1 Well identified four (4) lithofacies types of mainly sandstone, shaly sandstone, sandy shale and shale; and fourteen (14) lithofacies zones. The result of the X-ray diffraction analysis identified the following clay minerals – kaolinite, illite/muscovite, chlorite and sepiolite; carbonates and non-clay minerals. Therefore, due to the high percentage of kaolinite in Sahaiawei-1 Well (2% to 39.87%), it could be concluded that pore filing kaolinite may have more effect on the reservoir quality than the pore bridging illite and pore lining chlorite.
Keywords: alternation, lithofacies, X-ray diffraction, reservoir, mineralogy
Geochemical analysis of sediments from Sahaiawei-1 Well of the Northern Delta Depobelt in the Niger Delta Basin was carried out to classify the sediments, determine the provenance, tectonic setting and depositional environment. Twenty (20) ditch cutting samples between 1500 and 10730 ft. were subjected to X-ray fluorescence analysis to determine the elemental composition. The result for the classification of the sediments shows that the sediments were classified as Fe-shale and Fe-sand. The discriminant function diagrams for provenance signature and tectonic setting show that the sediments were plotted within the quartzose sedimentary provenance and passive continental margin tectonic setting fields respectively. The depositional environment using inorganic geochemistry shows that the sediments were deposited with in the continental, transitional and marine environments. This research has provided up to date information on the geochemistry of the Northern Delta Depobelt which would help in hydrocarbon exploration in the area.
Clay soil samples from the Afo-Okpella and Okpekpe in parts of the southern Niger Delta were analyzed for their geochemical composition, mineralogical and geotechnical characteristics. X-ray fluorescence analysis, x-ray diffraction analysis and index property tests were carried out to determine elemental composition, mineralogical nature and geotechnical attributes of the clay. The XRF reveals that SiO2 and Al2O3 are the predominant oxides. The XRD analysis shows that kaolinite is the predominant clay mineral with varying amount of quartz also traces of illite, smectite. The geotechnical index test shows that the clay soil samples studied also contains considerable amounts of silt-size particles (18%-70%) which makes them unsuitable in their raw state for use as fillers, raw materials in the paint industries. The clays were generally of medium to high plasticity and medium to high compressibility, however the classification of degree of expansion as regard to percentage linear shrinkage places the entire clay bodies studied in the critical degree of expansion. The study reveals that they are good for the production of quality bricks, ceramics and other industrial usage such as rubber, paper and paint industries.
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