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Hydrocarbon migration pathways control the distribution of oil and gas in Abu Dhabi sedimentary basins and therefore it is one of the most important and controversial problems in petroleum system pillars. The complexity of this problem appears in full of regards to the faults and fractures, as most of them are cemented, while the bedding planes forming corridors that are playing an important role in turn. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the direction, dominant form, and distance of oil migration. The role of bedding corridors in migration of hydrocarbon was not fully estimated. This paper introduces the bedding corridors as an important migration pathway in Abu Dhabi. They are sub-horizontal tabular bodies of bedding plane weak zones formed as shear swarms, which vertically divide the entire reservoir thickness and extend laterally as their layers. Bedding corridors are genetically related to shearing along the bedding surfaces and they contribute to the conductive systems in Abu Dhabi reservoirs. Bedding corridors can be best identified from horizontal borehole image logs, and as spikes in open-hole logs. An integrated study comprising logs, cores and outcrops are the main sources to delineate them. The significance of this approach is that once a diagnostic signature can be recognized in open-hole logs, in combination with lost circulation data, it can be used to allocate bedding corridors in other vertical wells with no image logs. Results indicate that the horizontal stress anisotropy is the key parameter to predict bedding corridors behavior under different stress regimes, as the Shmin and SHmax is usually very close to each other in most of Abu Dhabi reservoirs. Swapping stresses with depth is common in Abu Dhabi fields, where a strike-slip regime can open and dilate the shear stress along the bedding planes. Strike slip faulting regime, wich prevailed Abu Dhabi reservoirs is the main source of the stresses that distribute along the bedding planes, where most of the stresses are dissipating horizontally comprising the strike slip component. Bedding corridors can be considered as indicators of the reservoir stress history, where they form extraordinary clusters of a huge number of shear conductive corridors in a transpressional regime. In Abu Dhabi oil and gas reservoirs, bedding corridors networks help drain hydrocarbons. In carbonate formations, for example, it is quite common to observe a permeability contrast of about 500mD or more between the rock matrix and surrounding bedding corridors. In this paper, we differentiate between image-log porosity and density-neutron porosity, which is regarded as secondary porosity attributable to bedding corridors. We also introduce here a working hypothesis about their effect on hydrofraccing being part of geomechanical assessment. Geomechanically, these corridors can be used efficiently to increase production particularly in tight and unconventional reservoirs. The role of bedding corridors is particularly important in reservoirs having a tight matrix. It is recommended horizontal drilling to maximize production through those bedding corridors compared to vertical wells. Even in fraccing design, there is a need to highlight the importance of bedding planes in helping fracs to propagate.
Hydrocarbon migration pathways control the distribution of oil and gas in Abu Dhabi sedimentary basins and therefore it is one of the most important and controversial problems in petroleum system pillars. The complexity of this problem appears in full of regards to the faults and fractures, as most of them are cemented, while the bedding planes forming corridors that are playing an important role in turn. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the direction, dominant form, and distance of oil migration. The role of bedding corridors in migration of hydrocarbon was not fully estimated. This paper introduces the bedding corridors as an important migration pathway in Abu Dhabi. They are sub-horizontal tabular bodies of bedding plane weak zones formed as shear swarms, which vertically divide the entire reservoir thickness and extend laterally as their layers. Bedding corridors are genetically related to shearing along the bedding surfaces and they contribute to the conductive systems in Abu Dhabi reservoirs. Bedding corridors can be best identified from horizontal borehole image logs, and as spikes in open-hole logs. An integrated study comprising logs, cores and outcrops are the main sources to delineate them. The significance of this approach is that once a diagnostic signature can be recognized in open-hole logs, in combination with lost circulation data, it can be used to allocate bedding corridors in other vertical wells with no image logs. Results indicate that the horizontal stress anisotropy is the key parameter to predict bedding corridors behavior under different stress regimes, as the Shmin and SHmax is usually very close to each other in most of Abu Dhabi reservoirs. Swapping stresses with depth is common in Abu Dhabi fields, where a strike-slip regime can open and dilate the shear stress along the bedding planes. Strike slip faulting regime, wich prevailed Abu Dhabi reservoirs is the main source of the stresses that distribute along the bedding planes, where most of the stresses are dissipating horizontally comprising the strike slip component. Bedding corridors can be considered as indicators of the reservoir stress history, where they form extraordinary clusters of a huge number of shear conductive corridors in a transpressional regime. In Abu Dhabi oil and gas reservoirs, bedding corridors networks help drain hydrocarbons. In carbonate formations, for example, it is quite common to observe a permeability contrast of about 500mD or more between the rock matrix and surrounding bedding corridors. In this paper, we differentiate between image-log porosity and density-neutron porosity, which is regarded as secondary porosity attributable to bedding corridors. We also introduce here a working hypothesis about their effect on hydrofraccing being part of geomechanical assessment. Geomechanically, these corridors can be used efficiently to increase production particularly in tight and unconventional reservoirs. The role of bedding corridors is particularly important in reservoirs having a tight matrix. It is recommended horizontal drilling to maximize production through those bedding corridors compared to vertical wells. Even in fraccing design, there is a need to highlight the importance of bedding planes in helping fracs to propagate.
Abu Dhabi fields profitable development starts with understanding structural framework and styles kinematically and dynamically in the context of regional and local exploration resource potential evaluation. This enables to determine and predict the structural controls on deposition and understand the nature and development of trap styles. The fault systems in Abu Dhabi fields investigating the different stages of geometrically, kinematically and dynamically development of strike-slip basins. The seismically mapped stratigraphic succession starts with the Permian, that showing fault systems characterized by Late Mesozoic transpressional wrench tectonics. Abu Dhabi mature basins provide important information on the temporal and spatial changes in sediment source, depositional systems, and uplift history of Abu Dhabi fields. A gap is existing between the faults systems interpreted on the magnetic maps that showing NE lineaments and the Permian-Tertiary succession with main faults tending due NW. Below the deeper Permian interpreted horizons and up to the basement is not clear in Abu Dhabi, as the seismic is not cover the deeper section. Therefore, a tectonic model is required that captured the unknown using the known faulting relations with the depositional and deformed rock units. This work is a multi-disciplined investigation of the complex spatial and temporal relationships between facies distribution and faulting, which exist during basin evolution in a tectonically active intracontinental setting. This exciting field-based study will integrate structural mapping, structural techniques, and seismic interpretation to examine the diverse origins of strike-slip related basins in the UAE. The aim of the fieldwork was to gain a three-dimensional picture for the tectonic system that has operated in Abu Dhabi basins through time, and to understand the interplay between faulting, basin margin deformation, facies distribution, architecture, and adjacent mountain building. Kinematic analysis of faults for stress determination was carried out on Permian up to Tertiary rocks, which revealed various transtensional and/or transpressional regime. Abu Dhabi deformation was segregated into two coeval distinctive states of stress. The Permian-Cretaceous state of stress was compressional, with σ1 oriented in a NW-SE direction and changed by the Tertiary to be due NE. This paper address generating reliable distributions of the deformation zones predictions that can impact the reservoir parameters geodynamically within onshore/offshore Abu Dhabi successions where the development induced modifications and their effects on reservoir permeability can be understood and managed.
Abu Dhabi fields are influenced by strike-slip and their damage zones as a main tectonic regime. A damage zone is the deformed volume of rocks around a fault surface that results from the initiation, propagation, interaction, and build-up of slip along fault segments. These damages zones impacted the distribution of the traps, migration pathways and increasing the drilling risks. Slippage and rotation along the fault segments in Abu Dhabi fields increases the damage zones widths around the fault segments. This paper presents a detailed description of the kinematics and dynamics of rotated damage zones in the strike-slip faults of Abu Dhabi fields. The factors that are controlling the damage zones around faults are mainly the rock type, relation between bedding and fault plane and stress tensors. This paper, however, focuses on the structures within the damage zones as they are influencing the trapping mechanism, the drilling hazards and how the rotation increases these. In addition, the structures formed at the fault tips are also considered, especially for the initiation and propagation of the fractures. Field examples and outcrop analogues of damage zones around strike-slip faults are presented. This study is integration between seismic, cores, logs, and outcrops. During the Late Cretaceous the kinematics of Abu Dhabi fault system changed to transtensional and accommodated a major component of left-lateral strike-slip motion with a SE-NW compressional component. The final phase occurred by the Miocene time, where the stress tensor is changed to NE-SW compression, which rotated the blocks. During this deformation, the blocks were dissected into a series of large-scale blocks bounded by NW-trending left-lateral strike-slip faults which merge into a NE–SW fault system that forms the main structures in Abu Dhabi. Field studies on the mountains exposures data from the fault bound subsurface blocks indicate 10°–15° of post-Early Miocene anticlockwise rotation with substantial latitudinal motion. The decrease/increase of stresses along the fault segments in the overlapping/linkage zones and at the fault tips under differential confining pressures affecting the rocks behavior and understanding of these will greatly avoid drilling dry holes and reduce the drilling risks.
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