Increased Oil Production and Reserves Utilizing Secondary/Tertiary Recovery Techniques on Small Reservoirs in the Paradox Basin, Utah Page: 13 of 120
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The primary objective of this project is to enhance domestic petroleum production by
demonstration and technology transfer of an advanced oil recovery technology in the Paradox basin,
southeastern Utah. If this project can demonstrate technical and economic feasibility, the technique
can be applied to approximately 100 additional small fields in the Paradox basin alone, and result
in increased recovery of 150 to 200 million barrels of oil. This project is designed to characterize
five shallow-shelf carbonate reservoirs in the Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian) Paradox Formation and
choose the best candidate for a pilot demonstration project for either a waterflood or carbon dioxide-
flood project. The field demonstration, monitoring of field performance, and associated validation
activities will take place within the Navajo Nation, San Juan County, Utah.
The Utah Geological Survey (UGS) leads a multidisciplinary team to determine the
geological and reservoir characteristics of typical small shallow-shelf carbonate reservoirs in the
Paradox basin. The Paradox basin project team consists of the UGS (prime contractor) Harken
Southwest Corporation, and several subcontractors. This research is performed under the Class II
Oil Program of the U.S. Department of Energy, Bartlesville Project Office. This report covers
research and technology transfer activities from the pre-award period and first project year (June 10,
1995 through February 8, 1995). This work includes evaluation of regional facies belts, outcrop
analogues, five selected fields, reservoir modeling, and simulation. The results can be applied to
similar reservoirs in many U.S. basins.
Regionally three generalized facies belts were identified: (1) open marine, (2) shallow-shelf
and shelf-margin, and (3) intra-shelf, salinity-restricted facies. Outcrops of the Paradox Formation
Ismay zone along the San Juan River of southeastern Utah, provided small-scale analogues of
reservoir heterogeneity, flow barriers and baffles, and lithofacies geometry. These characteristics
are being used in reservoir simulation models for secondary/tertiary recovery of oil from the small
fields in the basin.
Reservoir data, cores and cuttings, geophysical logs, various reservoir maps, and other
information from the project fields and regional exploratory wells are being collected. Well
locations, production reports, completion tests, core analysis, formation tops, and other data were
compiled and entered in a database developed by the UGS. Base maps and new isochron maps
covering project fields were prepared and cores were described from selected project wells with
special emphasis on bounding surfaces of possible flow units.
The project fields (Anasazi, Mule, Blue Hogan, Heron North, and Runway) have one to three
wells with primary per field production ranging from 700,000 to 2 million barrels of oil at a 15 to
20 percent recovery rate. Conventional cores from these fields show that three compositional
reservoir types of carbonate buildups are present: (1) phylloid algal, (2) bioclastic calcarenite, and
(3) bryozoan-dominated. Production, lithologic, basic reservoir parameters, and other data
describing these fields were compiled and analyzed.
The first project development well, the Anasazi No. 6H-1, was spudded on May 20, 1995 and
drilled to a total depth of 5,826 feet (1,776 m) in the Anasazi field, Navajo Nation, San Juan County,
Utah. The principal reservoir evaluated, a carbonate buildup in the Desert Creek zone of the Paradox
Formation. Evaluation of the core suggests the well missed the main buildup or mound-core interval
(algal bafflestone reservoir) and penetrated poorer quality mound flank deposits (mixed carbonate
fabrics that are brecciated, slumped, and chaotic) instead. However, the dolomites in the upper part
of the buildup or supra-mound may be connected to the upper Anasazi reservoirs in the rest of theix
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Chidsey, Thomas C., Jr. Increased Oil Production and Reserves Utilizing Secondary/Tertiary Recovery Techniques on Small Reservoirs in the Paradox Basin, Utah, report, May 1, 1996; Morgantown, West Virginia. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc679079/m1/13/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.