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Deciphering multiple controls on reservoir quality and inhibition of quartz cement in a complex reservoir: Ordovician glacial sandstones, Illizi Basin, Algeria

Martin Wells, Philip Hirst, Jon Bouch, Emma Whear and Nigel Clark
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 435, 343-372, 11 December 2015, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP435.6
Martin Wells
1BP Exploration, Chertsey Road, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex TW16 7LN, UK
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  • For correspondence: Martin.Wells2@uk.bp.com
Philip Hirst
1BP Exploration, Chertsey Road, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex TW16 7LN, UK
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Jon Bouch
2Pore Scale Solutions, Riverside Cottage, Carwynnen, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 9LR, UK
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Emma Whear
2Pore Scale Solutions, Riverside Cottage, Carwynnen, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 9LR, UK
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Nigel Clark
1BP Exploration, Chertsey Road, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex TW16 7LN, UK
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Abstract

Late Ordovician (c. 445 Ma) glacial sandstones form important gas reservoirs in the Illizi Basin, SW Algeria. These reservoirs have a high degree of depositional and diagenetic complexity, such that understanding and predicting reservoir quality (RQ) presents a major challenge to their economic development. Porosity is typically 1–10%, but reaches up to 15% and permeability is typically <10−15 m2 (<1 mD), but locally reaches >10−13 m2 (>100 mD). The key questions addressed herein concern the development and distribution of this RQ variability, specifically why has good RQ been locally preserved?

Primary depositional fabric exerts a strong control on RQ. Muddy sandstones are either highly compacted or pervasively cemented by quartz and microporous illite, and have very poor RQ. Only fine- to medium-grained, moderately well sorted, clean sandstones can contain good RQ, but texturally and mineralogically similar sandstones span a wide range of porosity and permeability. This range is primarily driven by the degree of quartz cementation, with incomplete cementation resulting in the best RQ. Quartz overgrowths in incompletely cemented clean sandstones are patchy and non-luminescent in scanning electron microscopy with cathodoluminescence (SEM-CL), possibly indicating slow growth rates. There is tentative evidence to link incomplete quartz cementation with oil charging of the reservoir. An alternative or additional explanation of RQ preservation may be related to limited silica supply in the centres of the thickest, stacked, clean sandstones, where the better RQ tends to reside.

The results of this study imply that sustained high-energy depositional processes, coupled with an early oil charge, are prerequisites for retaining the best RQ. This has important implications for the exploration and development of Late Ordovician glacial sandstones in the Illizi Basin, and potentially similar plays elsewhere.

  • © 2018 The Author(s). Published by The Geological Society of London. All rights reserved
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Geological Society, London, Special Publications: 435 (1)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
Volume 435
2018
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Deciphering multiple controls on reservoir quality and inhibition of quartz cement in a complex reservoir: Ordovician glacial sandstones, Illizi Basin, Algeria

Martin Wells, Philip Hirst, Jon Bouch, Emma Whear and Nigel Clark
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 435, 343-372, 11 December 2015, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP435.6
Martin Wells
1BP Exploration, Chertsey Road, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex TW16 7LN, UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: Martin.Wells2@uk.bp.com
Philip Hirst
1BP Exploration, Chertsey Road, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex TW16 7LN, UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jon Bouch
2Pore Scale Solutions, Riverside Cottage, Carwynnen, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 9LR, UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Emma Whear
2Pore Scale Solutions, Riverside Cottage, Carwynnen, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 9LR, UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Nigel Clark
1BP Exploration, Chertsey Road, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex TW16 7LN, UK
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  • Search for this author on this site

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Deciphering multiple controls on reservoir quality and inhibition of quartz cement in a complex reservoir: Ordovician glacial sandstones, Illizi Basin, Algeria

Martin Wells, Philip Hirst, Jon Bouch, Emma Whear and Nigel Clark
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 435, 343-372, 11 December 2015, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP435.6
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