Petrophysical interpretation in shaly sand formation of a gas field in Tanzania

Abstract

Abstract An onshore gas field (hereafter called the R field—real name not revealed) is in the southeast coast of Tanzania which includes a Tertiary aged shaly sand formation (sand–shale sequences). The formation was penetrated by an exploration well R–X wherein no core was acquired, and there is no layer-wise published data of the petrophysical properties of the R field in the existing literature, which are essential to reserves estimation and production forecast. In this paper, the layer-wise interpretation of petrophysical properties was undertaken by using wireline logs to obtain parameters to build a reservoir simulation model. The properties extracted include shale volume, total and effective porosities, sand fractions and sand porosity, and water saturation. Shale volume was computed using Clavier equation from gamma ray. Density method was used to calculate total and effective porosities. Thomas–Stieber method was used to determine sand porosity and sand fraction, and water saturation was computed using Poupon–Leveaux model. The statistics of the parameters extracted are presented, where shale volume obtained that varies with zones is between 6 and 54% volume fraction, with both shale laminations and dispersed shale were identified. Total porosity obtained is in a range from 12 to 22%. Sand porosity varies between 15 and 25%, and sand fraction varies between 33 and 93% height fraction. Average water saturation obtained is between 32 and 49% volume fraction.

Keywords

• Sand porosity
• Shaly sand formation
• Thomas–Stieber method
• Water saturation