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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2007; v. 270; p. 265-279;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.2007.270.01.17
© 2007 Geological Society of London

Reservoir case studies

Characterizing fracture and matrix heterogeneities in folded Devonian carbonate thrust sheets, Waterton tight gas fields, Western Canada

K. Rawnsley1, M. De Keijzer1, L. Wei1, S. Bettembourg1, W. Asyee1, J.-L. Massaferro1, P. Swaby1, D. Drysdale2 & D. Boettcher2

1 Shell International Exploration and Production, B.V. Kessler Park 1, PO Box 60, 2288 GS Rijswijk, The Netherlands (e-mail: Keith.Rawnsley{at}Shell.com)
2 Shell Canada Ltd, 400 4th Avenue SW Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 2H5

Well performance is extremely variable in the stacked sequence of relatively tight Devonian and Mississippian carbonates in the northern part of the Waterton Complex, Alberta, Canada. This is despite having an extensively developed fracture system present in all the wells. In order to determine why some wells penetrated more permeable fractures than others, a full reinterpretation of the geophysical, structural, stress, matrix and dynamic data sets was carried out. Flow simulations at sector scales using discrete fracture network models and fullfield continuum modelling were used to test a range of geological and dynamic scenarios. One of the most northwestern fields of the Waterton complex, the West Carbondale field, is the focus of the work presented. For this field the best-fit dynamic models consist of a major fracture zone, corresponding to either a seismic scale lineament or zone of enhanced curvature, trending through the area of most prolific wells. Outside this zone, the vast majority of the fracture system makes little contribution to the flow in the wells, other than slightly enhancing the reservoir permeability.