Computerized geochemical modeling of burial diagenesis of the Eocene turbidite reservoir elements: Urucutuca Formation, Espírito Santo Basin, southeastern Brazil passive margin

Abstract

Abstract The computerized geochemical modeling, a useful tool to understand the diagenetic processes influencing the quality of hydrocarbon reservoirs, is performed by using different modules of computer codes based on the thermodynamic and chemical kinetic principles and their associated parameters. As observed in the reservoir lithofacies deposited from the marine sediment-gravity flows, a case study of diagenesis is presented here from the Espírito Santo Basin in southeastern Brazil. The study uses the Geochemist’s Workbench (GWB™), PHREEQC™ and TOUGHREACT™ computation packages. The comparison of performances of these packages demonstrates the convergence of results from the software-based geochemical modeling with the petrographic observation of dissolution, albitization, kaolinization, and the precipitation of calcite and dolomite. Moreover, with limited data points, e.g., the sedimentary petrographic data acquired from limited number of boreholes, the computer simulation establishes itself to be a powerful quantitative method estimating the degree and type of diagenetic alteration of turbidite reservoir bodies in contact with a source of saline-water influx associated with salt tectonics. Therefore, using the limited petrographic data points, the geochemical computer-simulation method can even be utilized and extrapolated for areas where similar geological context is interpreted but no borehole data are available. Hence, porosity of turbidite reservoir lithofacies can be predicted in relation to the spatial distribution of dissolution, kaolinization, and albitization of feldspars and authigenic carbonate precipitation.

Keywords

• Sandstone diagenesis
• Computerized diagenetic modeling
• Turbidite reservoir
• GWB
• PHREEQC
• TOUGHREACT