Subsurface Consultants & Associates, LLC

Course Description
Slope to basinal deposits of the Brushy Canyon and Cherry Canyon formations are used to describe reservoir models, architectures and rock properties that are common in many deepwater basins. The focus of this seminar, though framed within sequence stratigraphic concepts and basin-scale modeling, is architectural modeling and reservoir characterization. These well-exposed West Texas outcrops allow the participant to investigate both the up-dip to down-dip (30+ km) trends as well as the stacking patterns of deepwater sediments. These outcrops provide one of the few examples in the world where it is possible to trace the evolution of a turbidite system from the up-dip slope into the unconfined basin. They also provide the opportunity to see both seismic and sub-seismic scales or architectures for comparison to subsurface reservoirs. Architectures common to many deepwater systems are present, including channels (aggradational, nested with shale drapes and without drapes, composite and shallow channels changing down-dip to sheet sands); sheet sands (compensated bedding and amalgamated and layered sheets) and bypass and slumps. All of these architectures will be described in terms of both their external and internal properties, in relation to production and exploration opportunities and placed in a depositional framework for reservoir prediction.

Who should attend
Exploration and development geologists, geophysicists, engineers, managers and staff that require hands-on experience with turbidites.

Course Content

Introductory lectures on deepwater sediments and their West Texas setting
Examination of the sequence stratigraphy of the Brushy Canyon Formation
Investigations, with exercises, of all of the architectural models including various channel types and sheet sands
Discussions of reservoir characterization issues including the controls on reservoir producibility and reservoir modeling needs in various architectures
Comparison to deepwater outcrops and reservoirs elsewhere in the world

Depositional Models, Architectures, and Rock Properties of Deepwater Reservoirs (West Texas Field Course)