In Development. Central Utah-Nevada Deep Plays Project. ArcGIS Maps & Database, Shale & Oil Analysis, and Basin Evolution

Transcription

1 In Development Principal Investigators: Rasoul Sorkhabi, Ph.D. Research Professor Greg Nash, Ph.D. Research Associate Professor Sponsor Cost $57k (USD) Duration 14 months Start Date 2014 Nancy Taylor, Contracts & Assistant Business Manager PHONE: (801) Project I Central Utah-Nevada Deep Plays Project ArcGIS Maps & Database, Shale & Oil Analysis, and Basin Evolution The Central Utah-Nevada region covers a large part of the Great Basin bounded by the Rockies/Colorado Plateau on the east and the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the west. The region includes the Lower Paleozoic shelf of the North American continent which has been affected by a series of tectonic collisions (fold-and-thrust belts) from Late Paleozoic through Eocene times, and upon which the Neogene Basin-and-Range extensional basins were superimposed. The Paleozoic-Mesozoic plays of the region offer important frontier exploration targets both for conventional and unconventional oil and gas resources. This document proposes a new research study at the University of Utah s Energy & Geoscience Institute for an industry-consortium titled Central Utah- Nevada Deep Plays Project: ArcGIS Maps & Database, Shale & Oil Analysis, and Basin Evolution, which is planned to be conducted in The project aims to (1) digitize and integrate the available regional maps and geologic data on an ArcGIS platform; (2) evaluate the shale horizons and petroleum systems through geochemical and geological investigations of samples from deep wells and outcrops, source rock maturity modeling, and oil-gas families; (3) characterize and depict the structural setup, paleofacies distribution, play fairways, and faultfracture styles of the region on ArcGIS maps. Background Information & Project Significance Tectonic Setting The study region in the Great Basin is bounded by the Utah Fold-and-Thrust Belt on the east and the Antler Orogenic Belt on the west. The region was the passive margin (shallow-marine shelf) on the North American continent from the Cambrian until the Late Devonian and followed by a series of orogenic events which formed fold-and-thrust belts and foreland basins. These orogenic events, nearly parallel to each other, are as follows: egi.utah.edu EGI... the science to find energy EGIDirector@egi.utah.edu April 25, :31 AM

2 1. Antler Orogeny (arc-continent collision) marked by Robert Mountain Thrust (Late Devonian- Mississippian); 2. Sonoma Orogeny (arc-continent collision to the west of the Antler Orogen) marked by Golconda Thrust (Permo-Triassic); 3. Nevadan Orogeny (arc-continent collision of Late Jurassic age) through the extent of the Sierra Nevada; 4. Sevier (thin-skinned Cordilleran or Rocky Mountain) Orogeny (latest Jurassic-Paleocene age), spanning 6000 km from Alberta in Canada through western USA (Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada) down to Mexico; and 5. Laramide Orogeny (basement-involved uplifts) of latest Cretaceous-Eocene age. 6. This sequential development of compressional tectonic events resulted in clastic-rich foreland basins as well as complex fold-and-thrust belts and stacked stratigraphies across Utah and Nevada. 7. Furthermore, the region was then superimposed by the Basin-and-Range extension (late Oligocene-Recent) which stretched the basement and the sedimentary cover creating halfgrabens and grabens. Oil and Gas History Ø The eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake was the locus of the first gas and oil discoveries in Utah in the 1890s (Farmington gas field) and 1900s (Rozel Point oil). These were followed by the discovery of Virgin oil field in 1907 in southern Utah. During and after World War II, exploration and production of oil and gas were highly concentrated in the Uinta Basin, Wasatch Plateau and Paradox Basin on the Colorado Plateau region of Utah. The discovery of Pineview oil field in 1975 in northern Utah drew attention to the significance of Utah s fold-and-thrust belt as an extension of the petroliferous Western Wyoming fold-and-thrust belt. However, this notion was eclipsed for over three decades by the lack of successful efforts until Wolverine discovered the Covenant and Providence oil fields in 2003 and 2008 respectively. These latter discoveries in Central Utah provide proven cases of Mesozoic fold-and-thrust plays along what the US Geological Survey geologist Clarence Dutton had mapped as Jurassic Wedge in this area in the 1870s. Ø The Great Basin to the west of Central Utah witnessed exploration activities sporadically over the past century reaching a peak of drilling in late 1970s-early 1980s. However, this drilling mainly targeted the Tertiary rift sediments in the Great Basin, and even though the surface of Utah s Great Basin is estimated to be 34,000 sq. km and it has been investigated by no more than 250 wells. Therefore, the distribution and structural-setup of Paleozoic-Mesozoic sections in Nevada and western Utah have remained poorly understood mainly because of structural complexity and scarcity of deep drilling. Ø In Nevada, the 1954 discovery of the Eagle Spring field by Shell ushered in the development of the oil and gas industry in the state. This was followed by the 1976 discovery of Trap Spring. The 1980s mark the peak of oil and gas discoveries in Nevada which were concentrated in the Railroad Valley and Pine Valley and production has largely come from the Devonian Guilmette Formation, the Eocene Sheep Pass Limestone or Oligocene-Miocene volcaniclastic and ash-flow 2

3 tuff rocks. Nevertheless, limited drilling has also encountered oil and gas shows in the Devonian- Mississippian sediments, and thus the Paleozoic rocks of Nevada represent high-potential and yet less investigated play for further exploration. Ø The shale gas revolution of recent years in North America has also drawn attention to the rich, late Paleozoic shale plays of Utah and Nevada, which, in contrast to the Paleozoic shale plays of the Appalachian basins, are located relatively farther from populous centers but also with relatively less-developed infrastructure (for example, pipelines) for oil and gas development in the region. This Study Given the above consideration, this proposed research project aims to pursue the following objectives: Ø Reviewing the current knowledge-base of the basin geology of the region. Hence the need to create a user-friendly digital platform for integrating geological, geochemical and geophysical data from scattered sources; Ø Characterizing the source rocks quantitatively through a combined use of samples from deep wells (including deep geothermal wells) and outcrops for geochemical and mineralogical analysis and constructing maturity models for various sites in the region; Ø Geochemical (biomarker) analysis of oil samples from various fields for oil-source correlation and identification of oil families; Ø Mapping the distribution of Paleozoic-Mesozoic sediments beneath the Great Basin from central Utah to central Nevada toward an improved paleofacies analysis; Ø Using data-rich areas for better constraining of data-poor areas, and constructing eastwest regional transects and play fairway maps for better evaluation of frontier targets (both conventional unconventional; Ø Given the importance of several fractured reservoir horizons and natural fractures in shale plays, this study aims to construct new fault-fracture maps for the region and analyze these structures from the standpoint of basin evolution (kinematics) and lineament geometry. Research Tasks & Project Deliverables The objectives and research plan for this Project were initially discussed with several experts from various companies in mid-2013, and in view of their feedback and comments the following plan of action is adopted here. 1. ArcGIS knowledge-base: Integrating geological, geochemical and geophysical data in a userfriendly digital platform 2. Geochemical analysis and petrographic/mineralogical description of shale horizons from deep wells (including geothermal wells) drilled in the region as well as samples from outcrops to characterize the source rocks 3

4 3. Geochemical analysis of oil samples from various fields or seep samples for oil-source correlations and identification of oil families 4. Basin modeling (1D maturity modeling) for selected sites 5. Mapping the Paleofacies distribution of Paleozoic-Mesozoic sediments beneath the Great Basin from central Utah to Nevada 6. Constructing 3 E-W regional transects and depicting plausible plays 7. Constructing regional play fairway maps 8. Constructing a detailed faults-fractures map across the study region using satellite images and geological ground truth a view to understanding (a) the tectonic genesis, orientation and relative population of lineaments and fractures and (b) the basement-cover relationships 9. A detailed bibliographic geoscience database for the region Research Team & Facilities Dr. Rasoul Sorkhabi and Dr. Greg Nash, research professors at the University of Utah s Energy & Geoscience Institute, will act as Principal Investigators for the project and will conduct structural,. EGI s Geochemistry Group will be heavily involved in the project toward the analysis and interpretation of rock and oil samples. PetroMod at EGI will be used for maturity modeling. QUEM-Scan and XRD laboratories at EGI will be used for mineralogical studies of rock samples. Experts from outside EGI will be invited to work as consultants for the project. Project Timing, Report & Budget We expect this research project to be carried out in 14 months beginning in 1Q We plant to have a preliminary meeting for the interested companies on July 26 (Friday) 2013 at EGI, Salt Lake City to brainstorm the study scope and focus the project s deliverables. During the execution of the Project, we will have three meetings (kick-off meeting, a mid-term meeting and a final meeting) to preset and discuss the project results. These meetings will be held in locations in Utah or Nevada where we will also have field trips to outcrops of interest for the study. The Project Report will be delivered on ArcGIS to the sponsoring companies. The cost for each sponsoring company is US $57,267 (based on six sponsors). 4

5 EGI Technical Contacts JRasoul Sorkhabi, Research Professor Energy & Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah 423 Wakara Way, Suite 300, Salt Lake City Utah Phone: (801) Greg Nash, Research Associate Professor Energy & Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah 423 Wakara Way, Suite 300, Salt Lake City Utah Phone: (801) EGI Sponsorship Contact Nancy Taylor, Contracts & Assistant Business Manager Tel. (801) Fax (801)

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8 Figure 1. The Great Basin in Southwest USA (after National Atlas of the United States) 8

9 Figure 2. The Great Basin and the study region bounded by the Central Utah (Sevier) fold-and-thrust belt on the east and the Antler (Robert Mountain) fold-and-thrust belt on the west. Also the location of major oil and gas fields are shown (modified after Nevada Petroleum Society Special Publication, 1994) 9

10 Figure 3. Simplified stratigraphic map of Utah and Nevada. Note the abundance of Paleozoic outcrops in the Great Basin for sampling. 10

11 Figure 4. Location of oil wells and geothermal wells penetrating Paleozoic sediments in western Utah and Nevada (samples from selected wells will be used for detailed geochemical and mineralogical analyses). 11

12 Figure 5. Location of oil and gas seeps in western Utah and Nevada (selected samples will be used for geochemical analyses) 12

13 Figure 6. Location of oil samples at EGI that will be used for detailed geochemical analysis and source-rock correlations 13

14 Research Professor Rasoul Sorkhabi, Ph.D. Phone Research Interests Regional Geology Tectonics and Structural Geology Petroleum Systems and Plays Trap and Seal Analysis Geochronology and Thermochronology Rasoul joined EGI as a Research Professor in Prior to EGI, he worked for Japan National Oil Corporation and Arizona State University. Rasoul holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in geology from India and a Ph.D. in geology from Japan. A native of Iran, he has lived most of his life in the United States, Japan, and India, and is multi-lingual. Rasoul is a member of AAPG, AGU, GSA, EAGE, etc. He serves as a contributing editor for GeoExPro and Earth, is a member of editorial board for Journal of Earth Systems Science, a member of AAPG History of Petroleum Geology Committee, a member of the GSA Academic & Applied Geoscience Relations Committee, and a member of the Advisory Board on Springer Publisher s Global Energy Program. Rasoul has published and presented hundreds of papers, is co-editor of AAPG Memoir 85 (2005), GSA Special Paper 328 (1999), Tectonophysics Special Issue Volume 451 (2008), and is co-author of Geological Excursions Around Miri, Sarawak (2011). Professional Philosophy: Regional Geology & Basin Evolution Rasoul believes geology is basically a unified regional science; the need to understand geologic processes and records in their evolutionary contexts calls for a holistic approach to basin analysis. Towards this end, his research focuses on constructing regional databases, integrative tectonostratigraphic records, play fairway maps, and paleofacies maps through time. Moreover, he investigates the impact of basement tectonics and plate settings on the distribution or destruction of plays. Structures & Fluid Flow Petroleum basins and traps contain structures of various types and sizes key elements in elucidating the formation and evolution of basins. An important application of structural investigation is to better understand fluid flows in rocks. Fault seals compartmentalize reservoirs, thus dismembering and localizing pools; leaking faults are risk factors in exploration. Fractures play critical roles in fluid flow on basin to prospect scales, and the significance for very low-permeability rocks is amplified in view of a major industry shift toward unconventional resources. Back to the Source After conducting a large number of regional geology projects, Rasoul is currently Principal Investigator for EGI s new research initiative Source Rocks Consortium: Source Rocks in Space & through Time. This is essentially motivated by the recent convergence of conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon resources at the source-rock level and the question of why rich source rocks are located where they are in time and space. Global Experience Rasoul has over two decades of academic and industry experience, and has worked on projects in various parts of the world, from the fold-and-thrust belts through Tethys and Gondwana to deepwater toe-thrusts. Focus regions include: Asia and the Middle East, Africa, and North America. egi.utah.edu EGI... the science to find energy EGIDirector@egi.utah.edu April 3, :47 AM

15 Research Associate Professor Gregory D. Nash, Ph.D. Phone Research Interests Geothermal system characterization Tectonic geomorphology Fracture characterization Fault propagation Remote sensing Exploration model development 3D geological modeling Cost-effective geologic mapping Dr. Nash has been part of the EGI team since its inception at the University of Utah in Prior to this he was part of the geothermal team at the University of Utah Research Institute ( ). He holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Utah and is a licensed professional geologist. His role at EGI has primarily been as a geothermal energy explorationist, although he also has participated in several petroleum focused research projects. He took leave for a year ( ) to gain industry experience where he served as Geologic Manager for Ram Power, Corp.. Over 45 publications have resulted from Dr. Nash s research and work. Remote Sensing & GIS The application of remote sensing and GIS technologies for natural resource exploration and geologic characterization has long been one of Dr. Nash s passions. This has included mineralogy mapping; structure mapping, and structural model development; mapping the spectral response of vegetation in relation to geothermal system degassing and hydrocarbon microseepage; mapping soil mineralogy anomalies related to geothermal system phenomena; and general geologic mapping. Recently ASTER multispectral imagery was used to map relative concentrations of silica, calcite, and clay in and near the Sichuan Basin, China to aid in characterizing the fracturing potential of rocks in the area. This led to a more comprehensive proof-of-concept effort in the western U.S. which yielded excellent results. Geothermal Exploration Geothermal systems are complex and commercial development requires the location of areas where anomalous heat, ground water, and fault related permeability come together. This requires the use of a suite of geological, geophysical, and geochemical exploration tools to locate and characterize prospective targets. Dr. Nash has been involved in geothermal exploration and lease ranking projects throughout the western U.S. and has worked with projects in Canada, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Great Basin Petroleum Exploration Locating areas of high geothermal or petroleum potential in frontier areas is a critical first step in locating productive reservoirs. Several shales in the Great Basin, e.g. Chainman, Manning Canyon, Pilot, the Chiulos and Long Trail Members of the Great Blue Limestone, and the Delle Phosphatic Member of the Deseret Limestone, have excellent hydrocarbon source rock potential and may be amenable to production of unconventional resources. Additionally, undiscovered conventional plays, related to these shales, may also be present. Dr. Nash has over 30 years of exploration experience in this under-explored region and believes that modern remote sensing techniques coupled with field geology, tectonic geomorphology, data integration and analysis using GIS, and exploration model development provides critical geologic insights that can lead to new oil and gas discoveries. egi.utah.edu EGI... the science to find energy EGIDirector@egi.utah.edu April 3, :47 AM