Geoscience/engineering characterization of the interwell environment in carbonate reservoirs based on outcrop analogs, Permian Basin, West Texas and New Mexico - petrophysical characterization of the South Cowden Grayburg Reservoir, Ector County, Texas. Final report

Reservoir performance of the South Cowden Grayburg field suggests that only 21 percent of the original oil in place has been recovered. The purpose of this study is to construct a realistic reservoir model to be used to predict the location of the remaining mobile oil. Construction of reservoir models for fluid-flow simulation of carbonate reservoirs is difficult because they typically have complicated and unpredictable permeability patterns. Much of the difficulty results from the degree to which diagenetic overprinting masks depositional textures and patterns. For example, the task of constructing a reservoir model of a limestone reservoir that has undergone only cementation and compaction is easier than constructing a model of a karsted reservoir that has undergone cavern formation and collapse as well as cementation and compaction. The Permian-age carbonate-ramp reservoirs in the Permian Basin, West Texas and New Mexico, are typically anhydritic dolomitized limestone. Because the dolomitization occurred soon after deposition, depositional fabrics and patterns are often retained, and a reservoir model can be constructed using depositional concepts. Recent studies of the San Andres outcrop in the Guadalupe Mountains and the Seminole San Andres reservoir in the Permian Basin illustrate how depositional fabrics and patterns can be used to construct a reservoir model when depositional features are retained