IPTC 11247
An Overview of Reservoir Quality in Producing Cretaceous Strata of the Middle East
S.N. Ehrenberg, A.A.M. Aqrawi, and P.H. Nadeau, STATOIL
Copyright 2007, International Petroleum Technology Conference
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Abstract
A compilation of average porosity and permeability data
for Cretaceous petroleum reservoirs of the Middle East
reveals important differences between the two main
tectonic provinces present in this region. The Arabian
Platform tectonic province is characterized by strong
inverse correlation of average porosity with present
depth in both carbonates and sandstones, whereas the
Zagros Fold Belt, containing almost exclusively
carbonate reservoirs, has distinctly lower porosity overall
and no porosity-depth correlation. These contrasts are
interpreted as reflecting the fact that Arabian Platform
strata are mostly at or near their maximum burial depth,
whereas Zagros strata have experienced widely varying
uplift and erosion following maximum burial in mid-
Tertiary time. The carbonate reservoirs show no
correlation between average porosity and permeability,
probably because of wide differences in dominant pore
types. Average permeabilities tend to be much higher for
sandstones than for carbonates, despite similar porosity
for given depth.
Existence of the Arabian Platform porosity-depth
correlation, despite wide diversity of depositional settings
and early diagenetic porosity modifications among the
individual component reservoirs, reflects the overriding
importance of burial diagenesis in controlling the porosity
differentiation of reservoir rock bodies. Although porosity
commonly shows enormous small-scale (bed-to-bed)
heterogeneity, the average pre-burial porosity of larger
stratigraphic intervals tends to be very high in both
carbonates and sandstones. Burial diagenesis
progressively destroys this porosity by chemical
compaction and associated (stylolite-sourced)
cementation, such that all portions of the affected rock
body move toward the zero limit as depth increases.
Average reservoir porosity therefore tends to correlate
inversely with depth, regardless of the complexities of
depositional facies and early diagenesis.