O L D S A N D S TO N E S N E W H O R I Z O N S

aleozoic sandstones are now the most

exciting oil exploration target in Arabia. Oil
and gas have recently been discovered in
large quantities in these ancient rocks in Saudi
Arabia, Oman the United Arab Emirates. Slightly
younger Mesozoic sands are also important
targets in Yemen, Syria and Egypt.
Roy Nurmi examines the recent discoveries in
the Paleozoic and explains why these sandstones
hold great promise for the future. Eric Standen
also shows how the high-resolution Formation
MicroImager (FMI*) tool helps in understanding
these sandstones. Moujahed I Husseini of Saudi
Aramco describes in detail the geology of the
Permian marine sandstones around Riyadh in
which oil was first discovered two years ago.

Contributions by Don Hadley, United States Geological

Survey, Al Ain, UAE and Jaap Focke, Shell, Rijswijk, The
Netherlands. Many of the photographs in this article were
kindly supplied by Don Hadley.

10

Middle East Well Evaluation Review

Issue 11, 1991.

11

Mike Brown

Fig. 2.1: DRILLING ON THE EDGE: A

PDO drilling rig at the edge of a vast
desert sand sheet at Rub al-Khali.

14

he search for hydrocarbons in the

deeper and older Paleozoic rocks
intensified as the number of supergiant discoveries in Cretaceous and Jurassic carbonates declined. The first step was
to drill into the uppermost Paleozoic carbonate Khuff Formation - a move that led
to the discovery of a wealth of gas
reserves. More recently, drilling around
the margins of Arabias prolific oil
provinces has enabled explorationists to
find oil in rocks older than the Khuff.
In the past few years, Petroleum
Development Oman (PDO) and ELF
have found oil in Omans Paleozoic sandstones. However, the heavy grade oil
and the complexity of some fields make
development of these reserves a technological challenge.

Major gas discoveries have been

made in the Paleozoic Haima
sandstones under central Omans preexisting and shallower carbonate reservoirs. Hydrocarbons have been located
in the Saih Nihayda and Saih Rawl fields
at depths greater than 14,000ft and
16,000ft, respectively.
The discovery of oil in Saudi Arabias Paleozoic sandstone by the Al
Hawtah 1 wildcat well in June 1989 was
the first firm indication of possible oil
reserves. Subsequent large oil finds in
these Permian marine sandstones
southeast of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, have
prompted further evaluation of the Paleozoic system.

Middle East Well Evaluation Review

Sahara
Glaciation

Abu Mahara
Glaciation

Gondwana
Glaciation

Carbonate

10N

Equator

10S

Sandstone

30S

s
ou

tia

Science Photo Library

Te
r

ta
re
C

ry

ce

c
Ju
ra
s

si

ic
ss
Tr
ia

ia

fe
r
ni
bo
ar
C

Pe
r

ia
ev
on
D

ria
lu

ov
i

Si

rd
O

ci

an

n
ia
br
am
C

ou

n
ia
br
am
ec
Pr

Modified from Beydoun 1991

50S

Fig. 2.2 (Above): The red curve shows the latitudinal position of the City of Muscat, Oman during
geologic time (calculated by M. W. Hughes Clark of PDO). During much of Paleozoic time, the
Arabian Peninsula lay south of the equator. Little carbonate sediment would have accumulated,
thus explaining the predominance of quartz sandstone reservoirs. Later in geologic time when the
Arabian Plate approached its present position, carbonates and carbonate reservoirs became
dominant.
Fig. 2.3 (Right): Location of Paleozoic sandstones in Arabia (green dots). The red dot shows the
site of the Nabatean tomb (on the opening pages of this article) which is cut into Siq sandstone at
Mada in Salih, Saudi Arabia. This is the oldest Paleozoic sandstone in Arabia.

Number 11, 1991.

500km

15

The search in Saudi Arabia

Shedgum area of
Ghawar complex

by Moujahed I Husseini
Recent discoveries of several billion barrels of Paleozoic oil in the previously
unexplored sandstones of Central
Province of Saudi Arabia highlight the
prospective nature of the Paleozoic
rocks on the Arabian Peninsula. The oil
is of very high quality (Arabian Superlight) and is sulphur free with gravity
exceeding 43 API.
The Unayzah Formation (see figure
2.4) is the main sandstone reservoir and
this lies immediately underneath the
youngest Paleozoic rock unit - the carbonate Khuff Formation - which is also of
Permian age. The Unayzah Formation
comprises two sandstone reservoirs with
highly variable porosities which average
about 20%. However, permeabilities of
several darcies are relatively common.
Older Paleozoic sandstone reservoirs
are present to the northeast of Riyadh
and the lateral continuity of these clastic
sequences, combined with the good
reservoir quality, suggests that these
sandstones will be a prime exploration
target in central Arabia for many years.

Abu Jifan Field

Hawtah Field

Wadi Birk

Khuff Formation
Unayzah Formation
Qusaiba Shale
Lower Paleozoic clastics
Oil
Precambrian basement

Khursaniyah

Abu Safah

Berri
Oatif

Abqaiq

Raghib

Fig. 2.4: The Paleozoic structural traps

of Saudi Arabia are typified by
Hawtah Field where the Unayzah
sandstone traps oil, sourced by the
Qusaiba Shale below the Khuff cap
rock. At Abu Jifan, a combination trap
juxtaposes the source rocks of
Qusaiba Shale against Lower
Paleozoic clastic sandstones. At
Shedgum, the Devonian reservoir is
stratigraphically trapped between the
Khuff cap rock and the Qusaiba Shale
source rock. The location of this crosssection is shown on the map to the
right.

Hilwah
Nuayyim
Hawtah

Tinat
0

Hazmiyah
Ghinah

Red Sea

400km

00
160

rop

utc

ff o
Khu

Fig. 2.5: The Upper Permian Khuff

Formation outcrops next to the
Arabian Shield to the west of Riyadh
and is over 20,000ft deep in the
Arabian Gulf. The structure contour
lines are in feet and show the top of
the Paleozoic rocks.

Ghawa

Dilam

r comp

lex

Shedgum

Riyadh

Shedgum area of
Ghawar complex
Abu
Jifan Field

Arabian Shield
Wadi Birk

Hawtah Field

00

16

800

16

Middle East Well Evaluation Review

Don Hadley

Paleozoic - the prime target

The uppermost Paleozoic carbonate
Khuff Formation was producing gas in
Saudi Arabia years before the discovery
of oil in the underlying sandstones. The
oil discovery at Qirdi-2 well in 1979
marked the first significant find in a
Saudi Arabian Paleozoic sandstone.
Later that year, sweet gas was found in
even older Paleozoic (Devonian) sandstones in the Shedgum area of the
supergiant Ghawar complex.
A far more prolific discovery was
drilled shortly later, in 1982, at Abu Jifan
Field, which flowed more than
8,000BOPD of sweet, high-gravity oil
from Lower Paleozoic sandstones at
13,500ft. In 1982, the deepest discoveries
of oil and gas were made in Paleozoic
sandstones in Saudi Arabia (oil in Tinat
Field at 14,800ft and gas in Abu Safah
Field at 14,500ft).
A petroleum potential for Paleozoic
sandstones across central Saudi Arabia
was indicated by these encouraging
results in eastern Saudi Arabias deep
wells together with hydrocarbon shows
encountered, in 1984, in Paleozoic sandstones in water wells west of Riyadh at
Wadi Birk.

Number 11, 1991.

Fig. 2.6 (Above): The Paleozoic section

outcropping along the edge of the
Precambrian Shield in Saudi Arabia - a
challenge to explorationists?
Fig. 2.7 (Right): Very permeable sand from an
excellent reservoir section of the Unayzah
Formation in the discovery well of the
Hawtah Field. The rock has 18.4% porosity
and 4,260mD permeability.

Shortly afterwards, in late 1986, the

Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi
Aramco) began exploring central Saudi
Arabia and has since discovered seven
fields south of Riyadh, including the
giant Hawtah Field. Other Paleozoic
sandstone reservoirs have also been
discovered to the northeast of Riyadh
where wells were drilled deeper to test
the sandstone beneath the established
fields.

17

Permian

Geologic time
millions of years
250

Formation

(Member)

Thickness
(m)

Lithology

500

Khuff
270

Fluvial
A

Marine

Unayzah

180

Carboniferous

290

Fluvial

330
Berwath

190

Jubah

340

Jauf

300

Devonian

360

395

405

Marine

Tawil

177

Silurian

Silurian hiatus
420
Qalibah
Sarah
425

350

Sharawra
Qusaiba

600
150

Hawban
Glacial

Zarqa

115

Ordovician

Quwarah
443
460

Qasim

475

Ra'an
Kahfa

Marine

200

Hanadir

485

Cambrian

500

Sajir

Littoral

300

Risha

Fluvialdeltaic

300

Saq

540
Siq
>600
Precambrian basement

Lets talk traps

In Saudi Arabia, the Paleozoic, Khuff
and underlying sandstone traps are predominantly structural and vary in size
and complexity. Some have a broad,
low-relief, overlying deeper fault blocks
while others are complex, highly faulted, rift-type blocks.
The typical Unayzah structural trap
is moderate in relief due to basement
faulting. The vertical closure of the
Unayzah structures is generally less
than 100m.
The structural traps grew during several tectonic pulses in the Cretaceous
and Triassic. But the movements were
most significant in the Late Paleozoic
Hercynian event. A variety of possible
stratigraphic traps have also been recognized and successfully tested.
The general cross-section (figure
2.4 on page 14) of the Paleozoic in central Arabia shows two stratigraphic traps
- at Shedgum and Wadi Birk. At
Shedgum, the Devonian sandstone
pinches out on the flank of the structure
forming a trap between the Khuff cap
rock and the Silurian source rock. In the
discovery well, sulphur- free gas and
condensate flowed at a rate of
26.8MMSCFD and 760BCPD at 2,300psi
from a 3/4in choke from a depth of
13,563ft.
At Wadi Birk, a sandstone pinchout
between a tight basal Khuff interval and
Precambrian basement was defined by
water wells. Both these pinchout observations are important as they provide a
guide to other exploration targets that
may exist along the flanks of large structures where the Paleozoic sandstones
pinchout. This occurs at the Khurais,
Ain Dar and Abqaiq fields.
The combined structural/stratigraphic trap at Abu Jifan Field can also be
seen on the generalized cross-section
across central Arabia. These stratigraphic traps prove that reservoirs older than
the Permian-Carboniferous Unayzah
and Khuff reservoirs should be targets
in Paleozoic exploration. For all the
traps discovered to date, the regional
seals are the tight Upper Permian Khuff.

Oil production
S

Source rock

Fig. 2.8: The Paleozoic stratigraphic column is modified after Powers (1968); El Khayal and
Wagner (1985); al Laboun (1987); Miessner et al (1988); Vaslet (1990); Mahmoud et al (in
press); McGillivray and Husseini (in press).

18

Middle East Well Evaluation Review

Sweet and sour in Saudi

Two types of Paleozoic hydrocarbons
are found in Saudi Arabia. The first is
located in central Saudi Arabias Paleozoic sandstones and is a sweet, highgravity oil and gas. The second, in contrast, is sour gas found in large Khuff
reservoirs to the northeast.
The source rock of the sour Khuff
gas has not been firmly established but
the two most likely candidates are the
Qusaiba Shale or Precambrian carbonates which are buried deep beneath
eastern Arabia, onshore and offshore.
These appear to be the only sequences
with sufficient thickness to provide the
prolific quantities of Khuff gas. This is
particularly true of large gas accumulations such as the Qatar Dome which
has estimated reserves of about 100Tcf.

Fig. 2.9 (Below and right):

Red siltstone from flood plain
deposits of the Unayzah
Formation. The core is from
the Unayzah Formation in the
Hawtah-1 well.

Number 11, 1991.

19

Source rocks: all eyes on

Qusaiba Shale

Fig. 2.10 (Above and

left): Cross-bedded
fluvial sandstones of
the Unayzah
Formation
(PermoCarboniferous
age) from the
Hawtah Field,
south of Riyadh.

18

There are strong indications that the Silurian Qusaiba Shale is the source rock
of the hydrocarbons in Paleozoic sandstones. The main indications are the isotope and biomarker distributions
between oils from the Paleozoic sandstone and bitumen extracted from several possible source rocks.
In addition, the Qusaiba Shale is the
richest of all the possible source rocks
with a maximum total organic content of
6.15%. It is followed by the Jauf Formation with 3.7%, the Unayzah Formation
with 2.1%, the Khuff Formation with
1.34%, and the Hanadir and Raan Shales
with 1.13% and 0.68%, respectively.
The Qusaiba Shale is relatively thick
and is present throughout most of central Saudi Arabias basins. Today, the
Qusaiba Shale is buried at depths of
10,000ft to 15,000ft throughout Saudi Arabia and this implies that it is in the
hydrocarbon-generating window. In
northwestern Saudi Arabia, the Silurian
Shale is thought to have been frozen at
depths conducive to oil generation since
the Late Paleozoic. At this time, the Hercynian orogeny uplifted the area and
effectively reset the subsidence curve of
these rocks back to shallow depths.
Moreover, the early entry of oil into the
pore systems of Paleozoic sandstones
appears to have helped to preserve the
reservoir character.

Middle East Well Evaluation Review

The Unayzah Formation in central Arabia

comprises a succession of siliclastic fluvial,
coastal, deltaic and shallow marine sediments. In southern Arabia, these range in
age from Late Carboniferous to Late Permian and are the equivalent of the Al-Khlata
Formation glacial clastics in Oman.
Younger marine sediments from the same
sequence also correlate well with Omans
Gharif Formation which is Early Permian in
age.
Sedimentological and biostratigraphical
evidence shows that there is a regional
marine incursion which sits above fluvial
sediments of the lower depositional
sequence. This incursion, which is marked
by transgressive lag deposits, indicates
that a large sea once entered the region
from east and northeast, covering central
and southeast Arabia.
A regionally extensive progradational
succession lies above these transgressive
lag deposits and this can usually be divided into three depositional zones - a basal
red siltstone, a middle sandstone and an
upper layer of interbedded mudstones and
sandstones. This rock sequence shows that
the Permian Sea covered Saudi Arabia
before the major transgression which
deposited the Khuff Formation.
The middle sandstone is fine-to-medium
grained, moderately well sorted, laterally
continuous and, in places, of good reservoir quality. In some areas, it is over 150ft
thick. This is the reservoir rock for the
newly-discovered Hawtah, Dilam and
Raghib fields and was deposited in a variety of paralic environments - shoreface,
foreshore and delta channel.
The top unit of the three was deposited
in a coastal or delta plain environment and
is made up of channel and splay sandstones. It also contains variegated mudstones and some soil profiles. This rock
sequence shows that the Permian Sea over
Saudi Arabia receded before the major
transgression which resulted in the deposition of the Khuff carbonates.
There are also other Paleozoic sandstone sequences on the Arabian Peninsula
which have exploration potential and in
Oman, some of these have already been
found to house oil. But to understand
these exploration targets, it is necessary to
review the entire Paleozoic System.

Fig 2.11: Crosslaminated current

ripple structures
and thin lenses of
shale from a
shallow marine
sequence of the
Unayzah
Formation.
Core photographs
of the Unayzah
Formation in this
article were kindly
supplied by G. S.
Ferguson and J.
Hajhoj of Saudi
Aramco.

Fig 2.12: Outcrop of the Qusaiba Shale which is the probable

source rock for the new discoveries
in the Unayzah
Formation
sandstones west
of Riyadh.

Photo: M D Mahmoud

Focus on the Unayzah Formation

Further reading on Saudi Arabia

The Paleozoic Petroleum Geology of Central Arabia, by J. G. McGillivray and M. Husseini, AAPG
Bull. v. 74, 1991; also SPE paper 244, 1991 SPE Middle East Oil Show.
The Lower Silurian Qalibah Formation of Saudi Arabia, by M. D. Mahmoud, D. Vaslet and M. I.
Husseini, AAPG Bull., in press.

Number 11, 1991.

111

The Paleozoic in a nutshell

During the early part of the Paleozoic,
in Cambrian and Ordovician times, central Arabia formed part of a stable shelf
at the edge of the Gondwana land mass
in which the Saq and Qasim clastics
were deposited. Later, during the Late
Ordovician and Early Silurian periods,
polar glaciers and related fluvio-marine
systems deposited the Zarqa and Sarah
formations unconformably above older
rocks, including the Precambrian basement. As these glaciers melted, the sea
rose rapidly and this led to the deposition of the upward-coarsening Qalibah
Formation.
At the end of the Silurian, the sea
level dropped and the Tawil Formation
sandstones were deposited. During the
Middle Devonian, Hercynian mountainbuilding movements uplifted and tilted
central Arabia towards the east, exposing older rocks to erosion. In the Late
Carboniferous, glacio-fluvial conditions
led to the deposition of the Unayzah
Formation clastics in central Arabia
which now contain oil.
By the Late Permian and Early Triassic the Arabian Peninsula, which had
been eroded to a peneplane, was flooded by a warm-water regression and this
led to the deposition of the Khuff Formation carbonates.
These Paleozoic deposits were
altered extensively by later tectonic
forces, changing areas where oil could
be trapped and creating new migration
pathways. During the Triassic, rift tectonics along the Zagros mountain belt
transmitted extensional stresses across
Arabia. These produced localized folded and faulted areas such as those seen
in the Hawtah Field. Faulting produced
at this time may have provided a conduit for oil migration from the Qalibah
Formation to the Unayzah Formation
sandstones. The Triassic faults rarely
disturb the Khuff Formation which is
the regional seal for the Unayzah reservoirs.
More recently, during Tertiary and
younger times, central Arabia was again
uplifted and tilted eastwards. This led to
rapid and widespread erosion of both
Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks. However,
unlike eastern Saudi Arabia, these central Arabian structures do not appear to
have been structurally reactivated during the Cretaceous.

Fig. 2.13: Fossil

traces indicating a
marine shelf origin
for this sandstone
within the Qasim
(Tabuk)
Formation in
Saudi Arabia.

Focus on grabens
The discoveries in central Arabia have
led to the evaluation of the hydrocarbon potential of sandstones in other
scarcely investigated Paleozoic basins
of Saudi Arabia. Seismic reconnaissance surveys and regional studies indicate that many of these basins contain
the same petroliferous source rocks
and sandstone reservoirs of central
Saudi Arabia. In fact, some of these
areas also exhibit significantly greater
structural development than central
Saudi Arabia.
A major Precambrian half-graben
system can be seen in regional surface
seismic sections across the Western
Rub al-Khali in Saudi Arabia. This halfgraben was formed at the same time as

those in southern Oman and the Najd

Rift when extensional forces dominated
the Arabian Plate.
The Western Rub al-Khali grabens
contain both NS-SE trending faults and
basins in addition to the more common
N-S trending horsts and grabens. Seismic data revealed a rock sequence similar to that found in Omans Huqf Group
carbonates which are thought to be the
source rocks for the Ghaba and South
Oman Infra-Cambrian salt basins. Future
exploration wells will test the possibilities of these basins.

Fig. 2.14: The

Paleozoic sandstones
are deeply buried
along the eastern end
of The Gulf. Abdul
Raman Ali and Samir
Silwadi of Abu Dhabi
National Oil
Company reported at
the 1989 SPE Middle
East Oil Show that
these sandstones
only have fair to low
porosity with low
ranges of
permeability. Shown
left is a Scanning
Electron Microscope
micro photograph of
the pore system in
one of the Abu Dhabi
gas discoveries (Hair
Dalma-3; 15,532ft). It
reveals little
intergranular space
as a result of quartz
overgrowths.

Dr. Talaat Hassan, ADMA.

20

Middle East Well Evaluation Review

Omans decade of
discovery

Number 11, 1991.

Continental to littoral
Marine (sandstone, shale)

?
Gas from Silurian
Dubai
Shale
Muscat

Riyadh

Huqf oil
Oil from Silurian
Shale

Area of Huqf
oilfields
PDO 1st offshore
exploration

Sana

Indian
Ocean

Aden
0

km

Modified from Beydoun, 1991

Exploration in Oman has almost doubled

the countrys reserves since 1980. In just
over a decade, the reserves have
increased from 2,484Mb to 4,250Mb with
a steady increase of about 50Mb each
year over the past five years. Gas
reserves have also increased significantly since gas exploration began in 1985.
More recently, drilling deeper beneath
known oilfields has yielded a number of
significant gas finds including those at
Saih Nihayad, Saih Rawl and Barik.
Omans total gas reserves are now estimated to be greater than 9.91Tcf.
This gas search has yielded some
surprising light oil finds. These include
the Khuff discovery in 1985 under Yibal
Field and a more recent find in a deeply
buried Precambrian carbonate reservoir rock in Al-Noor Field. The amazingly high porosity found at a depth of
4,800m now opens up several deep carbonate prospects in South Oman.
Production from a thick interval of
shales in the same well has further
alerted explorationists to be aware of all
possibilities. In October 1991, PDO
began drilling its first offshore well only the fourth well to be spudded in
the Arabian Sea portion of the Indian
Ocean. The well is located in the south,
some 63km offshore at a depth of 105m.
PDO is concerned about the hard
limestone on the sea bed in this area
and the well may have difficulty reaching its target. However, almost all the oil
produced by PDO from Paleozoic sandstones of South Oman, in addition to
that from younger overlying carbonates,
appears to have come from the Precambrian source rocks. Geochemical and
geological evidence indicates that the
source rock was the carbonate/evaporites of the Cambrian Huqf Group. At the
Middle East session of the 1991 AAPG
International Meeting in London in
October, Geert Konert presented PDOs
evidence for an elaborate history of
early maturation and migration in Huqf
carbonate reservoir zones such as in
the Al-Noor Field.
Over much of South Oman, the dissolution of Huqf salt units has resulted
in the upwards migration of this Precambrian oil into the overlying Paleozoic sandstones and Cretaceous carbonates.

Absent (sediment source)

500

Fig. 2.15 (Above):Depositional environments

of Silurian Shale with the marine area having
source rock potential for Paleozoic
reservoirs in Saudi, the Safq area of Oman
and the UAE.

28

90

10

20
80
Fig. 2.16 (Right): The geochemistry of
crudes from Saudi and Oman
70
30
Paleozoic fields sourced by
Silurian Shale are both similar to
60
40
each other and to extracts
from the Silurian Shale. The
50
50
Oman Huqf and Q crudes
sourced from Precambrian age
40
60
rocks are quite
Silurian
Saudi
different (modified from
30
70
Shale
Paleozoic-crudes
P. J. Grantham et
al, 1990).
20
80
Safiq area crudes
90

10
"Q crudes
C

27

90

80

The Precambrian oil is classified as either Huqf or Q crude depending on its geochemical characteristics. A
plot of the sterenes contained in Oman
Huqf and Q crude oils shows them to
be markedly different from the Saudi
Aramco Paleozoic crude oil. The Khuff
oil of Yibal Field appears to be of the
same origin whereas Saudi Arabias
Paleozoic oil seems to have its source in

70

Huqf crudes
60

50

40

30

20

10

29

a Silurian Shale northeast of Hawtah

Field. The organic-rich Silurian shales of
the Safiq Formation are also a source
rock for the Haima Group sandstones
which are found in the Elf Sahmah Field
near the Saudi/Oman border and the
pre-Khuff sandstones of the UAE.

21

Yemen - the new frontier

Saudi Arabia

Yemen has been a focus of attention

since Ian Maycock led Hunt Exploration
Company to the discovery of oil in the
sandstones of the Maarib/ Jawf graben
basin. This find was a surprise because
explorationists believed that the targets
were Jurassic carbonate reservoirs
which had source rocks and evaporite
seals reminiscent of the prolific Arab Formation to the north.
Since its first discovery, Yemen Hunt
Oil Company has found 11 oil and gas
fields, all of which have been found in
Jurassic sandstones. About 200,000b/d of
sweet crude are currently being produced. Three recently discovered gas
condensate fields - Al-Raja, Dostour AlWihdan and Al-Saidah - will add to the
gas production from the Asaad Al-Kamil
Field.
These sandstones range from fluviodeltaic in the Alif Formation to deeper
marine, possibly turbidite, in the Lam
Formation (Upper Amran Group). The
Alif sandstones usually exhibit good
reservoir qualities with porosities in the
range of 20 - 25% and permeabilities
exceeding one darcy. The reservoir seal
is the Sabatayan (Safer) Formation which
includes a number of thick Jurassic salt
units (Upper Tithonian age).
Oil was later found in Jurassic Amran
carbonates (Amal, East and West Ayan
fields), southwest of the Yemen Hunt Oil
Company concession, by a Soviet-led
effort. Dolomitization, vugs and fractures

As'ad
al Kamill

Canoxy Sunah-1 discovery

?
Russian discoveries

Red Sea
Jamblyya 1

Yemen

Oil field
Gas field
Gulf of Aden

0
0

have enhanced the reservoir character

of some of the shallower water carbonate
deposits and there is evidence to suggest
depositional variation.
Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd is
leading explorationists still further east
in Yemen. Five of six wells have been
successful and as a result Canadian Oxy
has more than tripled its planned spending in this relatively unexplored country
- drilling 13 wells this year in their 6.8M
acre block.
The first discovery well for Canadian
Oxy, the Sunah-1, flowed 3,767b/d 36
degree gravity oil for 12 hours through a

7/8in choke with 378psi flowing tubing

pressure. It has been suggested that the
Sunah Field may be nearly as large as
the 500Mb Alif Field although more wells
are needed to determine the fields
potential. A well in another structure,
Camaal, in the same block recently produced 4,900b/d during an extended production test.

Yemen

SW N

Upp

Sabatayn
Shuora

Amran

Mid

Arab Fm

Oman

Naifa
Madbi
Shuqra

Kohlan

Hanifa
Dhruma

Kohlan

Low

Mafraq

Upp

Triassic

Mid

Jilh

Low

Sudair

Permian

Wajid

Unayzah

Carboniferous

Ordovician
Cambrian

Tabuk

Tawil

Silurian

Subsurface
in northern part

Safiq
Shale

Wajid

Haima
Gp

V V

Siq

V V V
V
V
V
V V Jbala Gp V
V
V

VV

Fatima
Gp

Siq

Precambrian

V
V V
VV

Ara

V V V
V V V

Abia
Gp

Ghabar
Gp

V V

V V V V

Crystalline

Sandstone, Quartzite
Limestone
Dolomite

22

Garif Fm
Al Khlata Fm

Saq

Precambrian

Haushi Gp

Sharawra

Sarah Qusayba
Zarqa
Qasim

Quweira
Saq

Berwath
Jubah

Devonian

Wajid
Akbara

Fig. 2.18: The

Paleozoic and
Lower Mesozoic
stratigraphic
column for Saudi
Arabia, Yemen and
Oman (modified
after Beydoun,
1991).

Khuff

Khuff

300 km
150 miles

Fig. 2.17: Location of Yemen discoveries.

@@

@@
@@

@@@@

@@

@@@@

@@@

@@
@
Saudi Arabia

Jurassic

Alf

Yepco

Huqf Gp
El Hota
Ain Sarit

basement

Siltstone
Shale
Conglomerate

V V V

Salt
Anhydrite
Volcanics

Middle East Well Evaluation Review

0.03
River flow
to north

Observed
Modelled

Active only at
flood stage

Frequency

0.02

0.01

In-channel and
bar top deposits
0
0

60

120

180
Azimuth

240

300

360

Vertical
accretion

Fig. 2.19 (Above left): Fluvial cross-bedding data from FMS imagery which indicated from modelling that the ancient river flow was N to NE in
direction with a channel migration of 5 and a low (S=0.5) sinuosity.
Fig. 2.20 (Above right): Probable appearance of the Late Paleozoic-Jurassic river system in the Western Desert of Egypt.

Dipping into fluvial

channels
Zarga and Sarah formations

Qasim Formation

Saq Sandstone

Jaap Focke

Channel deposits and their geometry

can often be interpreted on outcrops by
analysing the cross-bedding within the
sandstone. Occasionally, dipmeters provide enough dip information for this
analysis but often the size of the cross
bedding is too small to be analyzed
using dipmeter data alone. However, the
detailed images provided by Formation
MicroScanner* (FMS) images allow the
analysis of even the smallest cross-beds
within fluvial channels.
Schlumberger-Doll Research (Luthi et
al 1990) has demonstrated that it is possible to analyze and model the fluvial
cross-bedding within Upper Paleozoic
and Lower Mesozoic sandstones of the
Western Desert of Egypt using FMS
images. The FMS images detected around
100 individual cross-beds over a vertical
interval of 120ft, with an average crossbed thickness of less than one foot.
The cross-bed distribution exhibits an
azimuth scatter well in excess of 180
degrees. A large number of models were
tested (350 combined models) with the
best result being obtained for semi-circular bedforms in a sinuous river channel
with a slight oblique migration of 5 to
account for the datas asymmetry.
According to the interpretation, the
mean channel flow is towards NNW
which is similar to the modern flow of
the Nile River. As there are virtually no
floodplain deposits over the entire interval, it is further interpreted that a wide
braided-river system of sinous channels
existed in which crescentic (lunate) subaqueous dunes prevailed.

Silurian Qusaiba Shale

Fig. 2.21 (Top): Sketch of the Early Paleozoic (Ordovician) channels associated with glaciation in
central Arabia (from Denis Vaslet, 1990).
Fig. 2.22 (Above): Late Paleozoic channel in the Gharif Formation outcrop in southern Oman.
Number 11, 1991.

23

Display scale 1/50

Display scale 1/5

0.00 GR 100.00

3498.8
3492.0

3499.0
3494.0

3496.0

Fig. 2.23:
Erosional
channels in a
submarine
channel system
are filled with
clay in this
offshore well
from the Cauvery
basin in India.
The white
(resistive)
material in the
clay fill is
predominantly
oyster shell
fragments. The
depth scales are
in metres.

3499.2

3499.4

3499.6
3498.0

3500.0
At the 1991 Annual AAPG Meeting,
the Jules Braunstein Memorial Award
was presented to a team of geologists,
which included Prof. Paul Potter, Mike
Grace and Dr. Gordon Pirie, who used
images as well as dips to analyze channel reservoirs in the USA.
Channels occur in nearly every type
of Middle East sandstone reservoir and
are present in most depositional settings.
They are common in the reservoirs associated with glacial deposition in both
Oman and Saudi Arabia.
Large erosional valleys, up to 8km
wide, and channels associated with
glaciation which occurred during the
Lower Paleozoic of Saudi Arabia, can be
seen on outcrops and in subsurface
seismic data acquired by Saudi Aramco
in northwest Saudi Arabia. The channels are cut into the Qasim Formation
and are overlain by the source rock, Sil24

urian Quasiba Shale. Perry Dobson of

Texaco Research suggested that gas is
being produced from the equivalent
sands in Jordans Risha structure.
Outcrops of similar channels associated with a later glaciation (Carboniferous) can be seen in Gharif Formation
outcrops in southern Oman (figure
2.22). Subsurface channels in this sandstone were identified using FMS
imagery from a well in the Thuleilat
Field in Oman. The geometry and orientation of the channels could be directly
interpreted from the images. Also identified in the FMS image were caliche soil
horizons and calcite cemented fractures
in a porous sandstone.

Middle East Well Evaluation Review

Filling in channel data

In addition to using cross-bedding for
analysing channels, it is often possible
to see other features which may reveal,
even more directly, the shape and orientation of the channel system. In
analysing a submarine shelf deposit,
cores and FMS images indicated that cut
and fill troughs, which are very common
in channels, can be seen in the images.
Channel fills associated with submarine shelf and slope deposits along
Indias southeast coast have also been
analyzed using FMS images. These
revealed the orientation of some of the
clay-filled troughs within the deposits.
Examination of the borehole images
indicated that the sands and shale within the lower part of the interval (3,497m
to 3,507m) were deposited as channel
fills. The trough-like shape of the thicker
shale bodies suggests that they were the
final fill after erosion and sand deposition. The texture of some of the fill is
sufficiently coarse to be directly visible
in the images. The particles range in size
from pebbles to small cobbles.
Similar coarse pebbles were
observed during the later examination
of the core and can be seen in the core
photographs of figure 2.23. Note that the
scale of the photograph is approximately twice the size of the accompanying
FMS image. Most of the associated shale
is discontinuous and may include shale
clasts carried by the channel currents.
The shale wedge-like geometry, interpreted as channel fills using FMS
imagery, were matched with the core.
Although the detrital clasts within these
channel-like troughs were found to be
oyster fragments, it is thought that these
fragments were carried into this deepwater setting. This is supported by the
presence of deep-water fossils in the
non-channel deposits.
The orientation of the axes suggests
that the channels were affected by N-S
oriented basement ridges. The channels
were buried by either prodelta shales or
part of a submarine fan.
Thin shale beds in the sequence
above the channel deposits indicate a
very different depositional geometry. The
interval contains eight individual shale
beds which are thin, relatively parallel
beds of high conductivity (seen as black
in FMS imagery). These are less well

Number 11, 1991.

Fig. 2.24: Thin

gently dipping
shale beds of a
prograding fanlike deposit are
clearly visible in
sequence
overlying the
submarine
channels in figure
2.23. The depth
scale is in metres.

Display scale 1/50

0.00

GR

100.00

3480.0

3482.0

3484.0

3486.0

3488.0

detected by the Gamma Ray shown to the

right which has poorer vertical resolution.
The information on shale geometry,
depicted so clearly by the FMS, indicates
that these shales extend over a large area
away from this well and could possibly be
correlated with a nearby well.

25

0-5
0-5

Fig. 2. 25: Dip angle and direction of

bedding in an eolian sandstone reveals the
original dune types in an ancient desert.
The high-angle dips (red) provide the wind
direction. The azimuthal spread of the
medium-angle (blue) and low-angle
(green) dips on both sides of the high-angle
dips reveal the form of the dune steep
slope (shown below in figure 2.26).
Whereas, the dips with a southeast and
northwest direction (see left in yellow)
reveal that they were also longitudinal
ridges (shown in figure 2.27).

Riding on the storm

Reference
Eolian Sandstone Reservoirs: Bedding Facies and
Production Geology Modelling, by Roy Nurmi, SPE
paper 14172 (1985).

26

Fig. 2.26: A crescentshaped steep dune type

is revealed by the
eolian cross bedding of
figure 2.25.
SW

High-angle dips (10.1-40)

Medium-angle dips (5.1-10)
Low-angle dips (0-5)

Cross- section

SW

0-40

Wind direction
NE

With enough bedding information, it is

often possible to understand the direction of current movement, whether
water or air, so that the geometry of the
reservoir body can be determined. In
the past, the geometrical limitations of
the dipmeter made it difficult to reliably
define the cross-bed types and geometry as they are often too small to be correlated from button-to-button or pad-topad. FMS images now present a wealth
of bedding information much like a core
but with the added advantage of having
the dip of the well, the formation, and
continuous orientation of the bedding
features.
Early research work on the dipmeter
analysis of bedding demonstrated that it
was possible to determine the dune
type origin for the ancient dune
deposits in the Nugget reservoirs in
Wyoming. The dip and azimuth distribution of the cross-bedding and the relationship of azimuth to the dip angle was
used to determine the dominant dune
types. It was found that dune geometry
is revealed by separating the dip data
into different dip magnitude: low-angle
(0-5), medium-angle (5-10) and the
high-angle (10- 30) dips. The change in
dip magnitude with changes of azimuth
revealed the crescent shape of the dune
slip faces.
It was interpreted that barchan-like
(crescent-shaped slip faces) were dominant, but also present were some longitudinal-type dune features. The dip
within these longitudinal features is to
the SE and NW. However, the vector
average of these two modes is to the
SW, which is the same as the crescentshaped dune faces.

10-40

5-10

Areal view of Barchan Dune

Fig. 2.27: The direction of the dominant wind which makes

dunes migrate can be determined by analysing the internal
bedding of layers - in the same way as analysing crossbedding in river or marine deposits when
determining the direction of ancient currents.
When the dominant wind is blowing in a
desert, the sand moves up the gentle
windward side of the dunes and
accumulates on the steep leeward
side. This sand is added as
layers (laminae), with
layer upon layer added as the wind continues to
blow. The geometry, dip angle and dip
direction of these layers is the same as that
of the steep leeward slope on which they are accumulated. The
various dune types and shapes can be determined for
subsurface dune deposits by using either oriented core or borehole imagery. A group of
longitudinal dunes which are elongated in the direction of the dominant wind direction are shown
in this figure.
Middle East Well Evaluation Review