SUBTHRUST RESERVOIR EVALUATION

SUBTHRUST RESERVOIR APPRAISAL

François ROURE, Institut Français du Pétrole; Rudy

SWENNEN, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven;
David G. HOWELL, US Geological Survey
Abstract. Foreland fold-and-thrust belts comprise the world’s largest petroleum reserves. However,
due to their structural complexity, foothills areas constitute a frontier for the exploration. Apart of
imaging the structural closures, reservoir quality constitutes the dominant risk for the exploration in
foothills areas and deep subthrust prospects.
Main processes involved in the damaging of individual reservoirs and specific conditions resulting in
the preservation or secondary development of reasonably good porosity/permeability characteristics in
subthrust environments have been documented. They will be compared and discussed here on the basis
of representative case studies in Venezuela and Colombia for sandstone reservoirs, and in Albania,
Mexico and Pakistan for carbonate reservoirs.
Thus, during sedimentary and tectonic burial, both carbonate and sandstone reservoirs are rapidely
modified by compaction, pressure solution and fluid-rock interactions, and the understanding and
prediction of these issues require careful multidisciplinary approach. Regional structural cross-sections
are first compiled and balanced, the resulting restored sections being subsequently used as initial
sections for forward kinematic and thermal modeling. This modeling approach in turn provides realistic
burial-temperature curves for individual reservoirs, the later curves being then compared with the
trapping temperatures measured on fluid inclusions, resulting in a good dating of the main diagenetic
cements. Knowing the time span and temperature conditions which prevailed during specific
cementation events of subthrust prospects, it becomes now possible touse forward diagenetic models
based on the kinetics of fluid-rock interactions to provide realistic estimates on the residual porosity of
deep reservoirs.
The main damaging episode of subthrust sandstone reservoirs indeed relates to layer parallel shortening
(LPS) and coeval quartz cementation developing in the footwall of the frontal thrust. Although
paleoenvironment remains the main control for carbonate reservoir, synkinematic hydrothermal brines
are also likely to develop secondary porosity in relation to coeval dissolution and/or dolomitisation.
Finally, overpressures account also for a delay in the compaction and helps preserving good reservoir
characteristics, hydraulic fracturing episodes ultimately predating the onset of LPS and tectonic
compaction.

1- INTRODUCTION Lopushnia), and in the Southern Apennines (at

Foreland fold-and-thrust belts (FFTB) house
the world’s largest petroleum reserves.
Because of their structural complexity,
however, many FFTB’s remain frontier
exploration plays. Historically, initial drilling
targets in the mid or late 1800’s and early
1900’s were based on the distribution of
surficial seepages; these settings corresponded
either to shallow anticlines near the thrust front
or to stratigraphic traps, up-slope along the
regional foreland flexure. Beginning in the
1950’s, seismic surveys and other geophysical
techniques imaged sub-surface geometries,
leading to major discoveries in deep structural
prospects. Numerous subthrust hydrocarbon-
bearing reservoir horizons have been identified
in the Austrian Alps, in the Carpathians (at
Tempa Rossa ; 3). More recently, major
discoveries in the Sub-Andean foothills,
Cusiana and Caño Limon in Colombia, El
Furrial in Venezuela and Camisea in Peru,
have renewed interest in the exploration of
FFTB (7, 8 & 9).
Methane and liquid hydrocarbons are
partitioned at depth largely as a consequence
of varying pressure – temperature (P-T)
stabilities and modes of origin. Commercial
production of methane gas occurs as deep as 6
km, and future giant hydrocarbon discoveries
are certainly expected to be deeper. The
maximum depth of commercial targets is
controlled by diminishing economic returns
owing to increasing drilling costs and
decreasing reservoir’s porosities and
uncertainty of preservation stabilities for

18
 SUBTHRUST RESERVOIR EVALUATION
hydrocarbons. Thus, in most FFTB exploration
strategies, the reservoirs quality plays a major
part in assessing exploration risk. During
sedimentary and tectonic burial, both
carbonate and sandstone reservoirs are rapidly
modified by compaction, pressure-solution and
fluid-rock interactions. To evaluate these
issues, careful multidisciplinary team work is
essential.
2- GEODYNAMIC SETTING and
ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES
Geochemists have spent many years
developing techniques that correlate sandstone
reservoir characteristics with maturation stages
of the organic matter (porosities versus Ro
curves). Recent exploration in a foreland
setting - North Slope, Alaska - and in the
foothills foldbelt itself - Cusiana in the
Colombian Andes - have shown that the
texture and composition of the detritus plays
also a major role in controlling the nature of
diagenesis. The effects of maximum horizontal
stress (σ1) compacts strata in footwall
reservoirs in areas where oil could possibly
drain from a reservoir- i.e. along décollement
levels and frontal ramps in thrust systems.
Ironically, in some areas where fluid is unable
to escape, secondary porosity will increase
following overpressuring and fluid-fracturing.
Basin-scale fluid circulations can also control
the diagenesis of carbonate reservoirs. The
effects of these fluids reflect distinct stages as
the sedimentary basin is transformed into a
FFTB, evolving from passive margin (pre-
orogenic stage) through episodes of flexural
subsidence of the foredeep basin, and during
tectonic uplift in the foothills area. Recent
investigations and « in situ » measurements
evince fluid flow and dewatering processes in
Figure 1: Structural section compiled from subsurface data across a reference Sub-
Andean
19
active accretionary wedges, e.g. convergent
submarine margins settings of Barbados and
Cascadia, in emerged FFTBs of the West
Canada Basin and adjacent foothills, and the
Llanos of Colombia and Eastern Venezuela.
The study of calcite and quartz veins and
cements provides direct evidence of past fluid
circulations. Hydraulic, crack-and-seal features
document episodes of overpressuring and
periods of pressure release. Additional
information on the history of fluid circulation,
timing of successive diagenetic phases, and
development or destruction of porosity can be
achieved by studying diagenetic phases by
cathodoluminescence and fluorescence
petrography, oxygen and carbon isotope
geochemistry, trace element analyses and fluid
inclusion microthermometry (11). The
integrated research described below should
decrease economic risk associated with
exploration in foreland fold-and-thrust belts.
3- INTEGRATED APPROACH for
SUBTHRUST RESERVOIR
APPRAISAL
Prior to their tectonic accretion in the
allochthon, most rock units were either part of
the passive margin sequence of the foreland or
part of a synflexural sequence within the
foredeep. Potential reservoirs are likely to
record successive episodes of compaction and
diagenesis, related to their pre-orogenic,
synflexural or synkinematic stages,
respectively.
Basin.
 SUBTHRUST RESERVOIR EVALUATION
3.1- Forward kinematic modelling and
reconstruction of the burial curves
For selected basins located in foreland
and foothill setting, surface and subsurface
data (wells and seismic) are used to compile
regional structural sections. Initial passive
margin geometries are restored by means of
2D-balancing techniques (Figs. 1 & 2).
Forward balanced cross-sections are then
reconstructed with the Thruspack tool to show
instantaneous geometries along transects,
representing times from the onset of the
deformation to the Present (8, 9 & 12; Fig. 2).
This structural modelling helps to identify
potential migration pathways for both meteoric
and diagenetic fluids. The models display
physical connections between major thrust
planes and the geometries of potential
reservoirs and seals. By integrating
synkinematic erosion and sedimentation
processes, coupled with various paleo-
thermometers (Tmax, Ro, apatite fission
tracks), temperature-depth burial curves are
developed for prospective reservoir intervals.
These reconstructions are valid for horizons
located in the autochthonous foreland, in
subthrust horizons or in the allochthon itself.
Figure 2 : Structural modeling of the
same Sub-Andean Basin. Structure sections
a (present day) and e (initial, pre-orogenic)
20
3.2- Petrographic, petrophysic, fluid
inclusion and magnetic anisotropy
studies
Sandstone and carbonate horizons in
the foreland provide a reference for reservoir
strata prior to their underthrusting beneath the
allochthon. Reservoirs sampled in the
allochthon provide the other end-member
reference - reflecting fluid-rock interactions
and effects of maximum burial in the footwall
of the frontal thrust. Petrographic analysis
(including cathodoluminescence), stable
isotope and fluid inclusion studies constrain
reservoir characteristics - primary and
secondary porosities, microfractures, and how
fluid-rock interactions control the timing and
degree of diagenetic alteration.
In the foothills, reservoirs are studied
at different depths and in different structural
positions - along the conjugate flanks and crest
of a single anticline or at discrete distances
from a major fault or thrust plane - in order to
compare the respective effects of gravitational
compaction and stress gradients. Part of this
enquiry is to identify the presence or absence
of natural conduits for the dewatering. In the
foreland, reservoir are also studied at different
depths, at discrete distances from the thrust-
front - in the footwall of the frontal thrusts and
in areas sufficiently far from the foothills to
provide a reference for the pre-compressional
history - to document the long term effects of
tectonic loading and the development of Layer
Parallel Shortening (LPS).
Where possible, strata from a single
reservoir are sampled beneath and above the
oil-water contact. This helps to demonstrate
how hydrocarbon migration affected the
diagenesis and residual porosity of the
reservoir. Where possible the composition of
formation waters is compared with the
diagenetic phases and fluid inclusions, both in
the foothill and foreland parts of the FFTB.
This allows assessing the state of present-day
equilibrium between rock constituents and the
formation waters. Finally, analyzing the
magnetic fabric (anisotropy of magnetic
susceptibility or AMS) and studying thin-
sections oriented parallel to the main transport
direction help to document the deformation
history of the rock matrix in clastic reservoirs
(1 & 2).
reflect classic section balancing techniques.
Intermediate geometries (b, c and d) come
from forward kinematic modelling using the
Thruspack numerical tool.3.1- Forward
kinematic modelling and reconstruction of
the burial curves
 SUBTHRUST RESERVOIR EVALUATION
3.3- Thermal modelling
Analysis of heat flow data in
sedimentary basins generally assumes simple
Figure 3: Results of thermal (a) and source-rock (b) maturation modelling applied to set
of cross-sections from the same Sub-Andean Basin.
Applying this technique, however, in
some instances produces large discrepancies
between the inferred palaeotemperatures and
the palaeotemperatures measured from the
fluid inclusions of quartz and carbonate
(calcite, saddle dolomite, ankerite) cements.
This indicates to us that the conductive model
is too simple and that locally advection of heat
is caused by fluid migrations (2, 4 & 6). Thus,
it is important to model basin architectures in
light of fluid circulations and how the latter
can modify hydrocarbon stabilities during
maturation, migration and entrapment.
4- CRITICAL PARAMETERS
CONTROLLING the OVERALL
RESERVOIR CHARACTERISTICS in
FORELAND FOLD-and-THRUST
BELTS
Both sandstone and carbonate
reservoirs have been studied in foreland and
foothills settings.
21
conductivity, constrained by maturity data
(e.g. vitrinite reflectance) from source rocks
and the present distribution of the isotherms
(BHT, bottom hole temperatures; Fig. 3).
4.1- Sandstone reservoirs
Sandstone reservoirs reflecting an
original environment of deposition
corresponding to a former passive margin as
well as synflexural and syntectonic clastic
reservoirs have been studied in Venezuela
(Oligocene series) and in Colombia
(Cretaceous, Paleocene and Eocene series).
The magnetic fabric (AMS) and thin-sections
oriented parallel to the tectonic transport
directions indicate that parts of the El Furrial
(Venezuela) and Cusiana (Colombia)
anticlines preserved a layer parallel shortening
(LPS) component that was produced during an
early episode of deformation. This horizontal
pressure-solution formed while the reservoirs
were still a part of the foreland architecture in
the footwall of the FFTB (2; Fig . 4).
 SUBTHRUST RESERVOIR EVALUATION

Figure 4

We have also learned from

microthermometric studies of fluid inclusions
and thermal modelling that quartz cementation
occurred in the footwall of the frontal thrust
while the strata still belonged to the
autochthon. Nonetheless, strata in this
configuration were also subjected to horizontal
compaction (LPS) within an open system and
exposed to regional fluid flow, thus accounting
for the transport of silica (Figs. 5 & 6).

4.2- Carbonate reservoirs

Both platform and basinal carbonates
of the former passive margin have been
studied in Pakistan (Eocene series), Albania
(late Cretaceous and Paleogene), and Mexico
(Middle and late Cretaceous). Unlike
sandstone reservoirs, in carbonate strata the
nature of the depositional environment is the
most critical parameter controlling the
characteristics of the reservoir rock matrix.
Thus, our objective was to document the
evolution of the FFTB and to determine the
processes which may improve or degrade
reservoir characteristics during thrusting. For
example, secondary dolomitization,
hydrothermal karst development, and
deformation features such as stylolites, joints
and faults can enhance porosity or secondary
porosity development along stylolites (11),
while cementation, burial and tectonic
accretion of carbonate units can also damage
the rock matrix, reducing porosity.

Fgure 5 : Schematic diagram documenting the burial curve of Sub-Andean sandstone

reservoirs, paleo-temperatures derived from thermal modelling, as well as trapping
temperatures measured from fluid inclusions, for the foreland autochthon, the frontal
anticline and the allochthon, respectively.

22
 SUBTHRUST RESERVOIR EVALUATION
Figure 6 : Schematic diagram documenting the source of silica and the parameters
controlling quartz-cementation of sandstone reservoirs in foreland fold-and-thrust belts
In this context, the effect of
overpressuring during tectonic deformation is
also important since it may delay porosity
destruction and maturation. The existence of
temporary overpressuring is attested by the
presence of hydraulic and crack-and-seal
fractures.
The distribution of most fractures and
stylolitic joints in carbonates is controlled by
the architectural development of the foreland.
These early formed features can control the
geometry of folding and thrusting during
tectonic accretion and uplift (10 & 11).
Understanding of the nature of these events at
both reservoir and regional scales is crucial for
exploration strategies in the FFTB as fluid
migrations and the trapping of hydrocarbons
are likely to be coeval phenomena.
5- PERSPECTIVES and
CONCLUSIONS
Analytical recordings (Tmax, Ro,
stable isotopes, apatite fission tracks and fluid
inclusions) and 1 or 2D modelling are the
calibrating tools that allow an explorationist to
evaluate the burial and thermal history of
reservoirs (Fig. 5). However, several
parameters - specifically fluid flow and its role
in fluid-rock interactions and the effect of
overpressuring - need to be constrained before
we can reliably predict the characteristics of
prospective reservoirs.
5.1- Fluid-rock interactions
The following parameters need to be
more carefully studied:
- The regional patterns of fluid flow. This
characterizes the efficiency of fluid-rock
interactions, and controls whether the
23
reservoirs behave as a closed, i.e. rock-
buffered, or an open system.
- The elemental composition of the
circulating fluid is needed to calculate the
equilibrium state with respect to the host
rock. In sandstone reservoirs, this is
especially critical for the Si-content that is
so important in quartz-cementation. In
carbonates, pCO2, temperature and Ca-
content are key parameters needed to
assess whether dissolution or cementation
will occur.
- Regional pressure regimes and the
distribution of overpressured domains,
which control the occurrences and nature
of pressure-solution, hydraulic fractures
and sealing cements.
- Where overpressure zones can counteract
the negative effects of overburden
compaction.
Quantification of the water-flow
Thermal modelling generally only considers
conductive heat transfers (Thrustpack
simulations). However, new numerical tools
(e.g. the Ceres software) also incorporate
compaction and fluid flow in modelling
structurally complex domains. Basin-scale
fluid flow values derived from 2D studies will
also be compared with results of 1D forward
diagenetic models in order to control the
regional mass-balance, and to calculate water
volumes necessary to account for observed
fluid-rock interactions (e.g. the volume of
quartz-cements, high-temperature
dolomitization or the dissolution of carbonate
in hydrothermal karst setting).
 SUBTHRUST RESERVOIR EVALUATION

Paleo-barometers and controls on the Opening of formerly generated joints, fractures

pressure regime
Fluid inclusion data provide the principal
control for calculating the salinity of paleo-
fluids and homogenisation temperatures during
the diagenesis. Because of a better
understanding of the thermodynamics of
composite and hydrocarbon-bearing fluid
inclusions, it is now possible to determine the
pressure conditions at the time of entrapment,
provided the paleo-temperatures are
reasonably well constrained by means of an
independant thermal modelling. Thus, fluid
inclusions data should be integrated in studies
to reconstruct paleo-pressure regimes.
5.2- Deformation of the reservoirs
Magnetic fabric studies and analysis of thin-
sections oriented parallel to transport
directions identify those parts of anticlinal
structures that preserve the signature of layer
parallel shortening (LPS) - deformation when
the reservoir strata resided in the footwall
configuration. During thrusting and folding
any additional pressure-solution is likely to
occur only near the ramp-flat transitions (kink-
axes). Most parts of a hangingwall are uplifted
passively during tectonic contraction. In such
cases the matrix characteristics are preserved
from the earlier burial episodes in the footwall.
REFERENCES
and stylolites can be predicted based on the
style of deformation.
Reserve estimates
Intergranular porosity and fractures of various
types must be part of any equation used to
estimate reserves for a basin and evaluate the
prospects for any particular reservoir. In order
to calculate the various porosity figures, we
have tried to make the case that it is important
to know the history of the entire FFTB as well
as existing physical attributes of selected
portions of the FFTB. Futhermore, with
respect to reservoir performance, especially in
compartimentalised reservoirs, it is important
to evaluate porosity enhancement in terms of
open (reactivated) joints and stylolitic network.
Acknowledgements
This paper integrates some results of the
Subtrap-I project (1996-1998), operated by
IFP, which was sponsored by the following
companies : BP-Colombia, Chevron, Conoco,
EAP, Enterprise, Exxon, Intevep, Lasmo,
PetroFina, Premier Oil, Sipetrol, Shell, Total-
CFP . In addition, Ecopetrol, IMP-Pemex,
OGDC, OGI-Albpetrol have also contributed
to this project as associate members.

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