Pet roleum & Coal

I SSN 1337- 702

Ava ila ble online a t www.vurup.sk/ pet roleum - coal

Pet roleum & Coal 55 ( 2) 119- 127, 2013

RESERVOI R EVALUATI ON OF “ DANNA” FI ELD NI GER DELTA USI NG

PETROPHYSI CAL ANALYSI S AND 3D SEI SMI C I NTERPRETATI ON

J. O. Am igun 1 and N. O. Bakare 1

1
Depart m ent of Applied Geophysics, Federal Universit y of Technology, Akure, Nigeria
Corresponding aut hor E- m ail: j ohnam [email protected]

Received Febr uar y 25, 2013, Accept ed April 22, 2013

Abst r a ct
Danna field is an oil field locat ed in Niger Delt a, Nigeria and t he st udy was aim ed at reservoir evaluat ion
of t he field using 3D seism ic int erpret at ion and pet rophysical analysis. Five wells were correlat ed across
t he field t o delineat e t he lit hology and est ablish t he cont inuit y of reservoir sands as well as t he general
st rat igraphy of t he area. The pet rophysical analysis carried out on t he sand bodies indicat es t hree sand
unit s t hat are hydrocarbon bearing reservoirs ( Sand J, Sand M and Sand P) . These sand unit s were
furt her evaluat ed using seism ic int erpret at ion. Tim e and dept h st ruct ural m aps were generat ed from
seism ic dat a t o st udy t he field’s subsurface st ruct ures ser ving as t raps t o hydrocarbon and est im at e
t he prospect area of t he reservoirs in acres.
Param eters such as net pay, water saturation and porosity i.e. derived from well logs together with est im at ed
prospect area as obt ained from seism ic int erpret at ion were used t o com put e t he field’s hydrocarbon
reserve. I ts gas reserve was estim ated to be 225,997 bbl/ ft 3 while the oil reserve for the three reservoir s
( Sand J, Sand M and Sand P) is com put ed as 6,566,089.09bb/ acre, 14,006,716bbl/ acre and 42,746,
580bb/ acre respect ively.
Keyw ords: seism ic int erpret ation; hydrocarbon prospect ; reservoir evaluat ion; pet rophysical; analysis; Niger delt a.

1 . I nt r oduct ion
The uncert aint y in t he quant ificat ion of hydrocarbon reserve due t o inadequat e and poor
definition of reservoir properties has been a m ajor challenge in the oil industry. From explorat ion
st age t hrough t o developm ent and exploit at ion of hydrocarbon, 3D seism ic int erpret at ion
and well log analysis are em ployed to provide inform ation of oil field’s reservoir charact erizat ion
for econom ic viabilit y and cost effect iveness [ 1 ] . The applicat ion of pet rophysical analysis and
3D seism ic interpret ation in this study is aim ed prim arily to ident ify and characterize t he various
reservoir unit s wit hin t he Danna field.
The Danna field is an onshore oil field locat ed in t he Niger Delt a region of sout hern Nigeria
( Fig.1) . The Niger Delt a is known oil and gas rich province sit uat ed in t he gulf of guinea and
ext ends t hroughout t he region as described by [ 2 ] . Pet roleum in t he Niger Delt a is produced
from sandstones and unconsolidated sands predom inant ly in the Agbada Form ation. Recognized
known reservoir rocks are of Eocene t o Pliocene in age, and are oft en st acked, ranging in
thickness from less than 15 m eters to 10% having greater than 45 m eters thickness [ 3 ] . Based
on reservoir geom et ry and qualit y, t he lat eral variat ion in reservoirs t hickness is st rongly
cont rolled by growt h fault s; wit h t he reservoirs t hickening t owards t he fault wit hin t he down-
t hrown block [ 4 ] .
I n order t o achieve t he aim of t his st udy, t he following were ut ilize; a base m ap, a suit e
of well logs of six wells com prising lit hologic, resist ivit y and porosit y logs, 3D seism ic dat a in
SEG Y form at and check shot data of the study area. The results of this study were subsequent ly
used t o est im at e t he field’s hydrocarbon reserve which w ould aid in econom ic decision for
furt her hydrocarbon explorat ion.
 J. O. Amigun, N. O. Bakare/Petroleum & Coal 55(2) 119-127, 2013 120

Fig.1 ( a) Map of Niger Delt a Showing t he Locat ion of t he St udy Area ( b) Base m ap of st udy
area showing t he well locat ions
2 . Ba ck gr oun d Ge ology
The Tertiary Niger Delta according to [ 3 ] covers an area of about 75,000 sq km 2 and is com po-
sed of an overall regressive clast ic sequence which reaches a m axim um t hickness of 30,000
t o 40,000ft ( 9,000 t o 12,000m ) . Sedim ent at ion in t he basin began in t he lat e Paleocene /
Eocene, when sedim ents com m enced t o build out ahead of the troughs between the basem ent
horst blocks at t he nort hern flank of t he present delt a area. The st ruct ural pat t ern and t he
st ratigraphy of the Niger Delta have been controlled by the interplay between rates of sedim ent
supply and subsidence [ 3 ,5 ] . Eust at ic sea level changes and clim at ic variat ions influence t he
sedim ent at ion rat es w hile t he flexure ( t ect onics) of t he basem ent and different ial loading
and set t lem ent on unst able shale m ay have cont rolled t he subsidence.
The Niger Delta is subdivided lithlogically into an upper series of m assive sands and gravels
( Benin Form at ion) , deposit ed under cont inent al condit ions. This grade downward t hrough a
transitional series com posed m ainly of sand but with som e shale, into an alternation of sandst one
and shale ( Agbada Form at ion) , deposit ed under paralic condit ions [ 6 ] . I n t he sect ion below it
i.e. Akat a Form at ion, m arine shale predom inat es and t he associat ed sandst one unit s are very
likely t o be t urbidit ies ( Fig. 2) . Most known t raps in Niger Delt a fields are st ruct ural alt hough
st rat igraphic t raps are not uncom m on. The t rapping elem ent s include t hose associat ed wit h
sim ple rollover struct ures, st ructures with m ultiple growth faults; clay filled channels; st ruct ures
wit h ant it het ic fault s; collapsed crest st ruct ures; and m ud diapirs [ 7 ] . The prim ary seal rock
in t he Niger Delt a is t he int erbedded shale w it hin t he Agbada Form at ion. The shale provides
three types of seals- clay sm ears along faults, interbedded sealing units against which reservoir
sands are j uxt aposed due t o fault ing and vert ical seals [ 5 ] . Hydrocarbons are concent rat ed
along t he updip or proxim al edge of t he successive depocent ers.
 J. O. Amigun, N. O. Bakare/Petroleum & Coal 55(2) 119-127, 2013 121

Fig. 2 St rat igraphic colum n showing form at ions of t he Niger Delt a ( Tut t le et al, 1999)
3 . M e t hodology
Seism ic data interpretation and petrophysical analysis are used both qualitative and quant i-
t at ive t o det erm ine t he propert ies of t he reservoirs and evaluat e t he hydrocarbon pot ent ial
of t he st udy area.
3 .1 Pe t r ophysica l Ana lysis
A suit of logs that com prises gam m a ray (GR), resistivity, neutron (PHI N) and density ( PHI D)
logs were used t o det erm ine t he st udy area lit hologic unit s, different iat e bet ween hydrocarbon
bearing and non-hydrocarbon bearing zone(s) within identified reservoir(s), definition of reservoir
geom etry by m eans of well to well correlation and determ ination of the petrophysical param et ers
value of zones of interest ( reservoirs) such as porosity, perm eability, gross t hicknesses, wat er
saturation and hydrocarbon saturation. The density-neutron cross plot was used to dist inguish oil
from gas and in identification of contacts. The basic steps related to this petrophysical analysis is
described in Figure 3

Fig. 3 Flow chart of t he Met hodology adopt ed for Pet rophysical analysis in t he St udy.
 J. O. Amigun, N. O. Bakare/Petroleum & Coal 55(2) 119-127, 2013 122

3 .2 Se ism ic I nt e r pr e t a t ion
3D seism ic reflection data was used in this study t o m ap the subsurface st ructural feat ures,
infers geologic inform ation and estim ate the areas ( in acres) of identified reservoirs from well
logs. This m ethod is known to provide a structural picture of the subsurface which is com parable
t o what could be obt ained from a num ber of boreholes in close proxim it y [ 8 ] .
3 .2 .1 Fa ult Pick ing
Fault s which are displacem ent of rocks are easily ident ified and picked on t he inlines ( dip
lines) of t he seism ic sect ion by select ing across point s where t he seism ic event s t runcat es or
at points of discontinuity. The faults picked were digitized from time surfaces on the 3D window.
3 .2 .2 . H or iz on M a pping
A horizon is a reflecting surface that appears on seism ic sections and is recognized as coherent
reflect ion event . For t his st udy, t he horizons w ere picked based on t he prospect ive zones
identified from petrophysical analysis of well logs. Three prospective zones specifically Horizon J,
M and P were ident ified and t he well t o seism ic t ie was done using t he check shot dat a. Tim e
and t he respect ive prospect area for each zone were ident ified and est im at ed respect ively on
t he dept h m aps.
4 . Re sult s a nd D iscussion
I n evaluat ing t he hydrocarbon pot ent ials of Danna field, it is essent ial t o obt ain a good
pict ure of it s subsurface st rat ificat ion so as t o know how consist ent t he reservoirs are. Thus,
a t ot al of sixt een reservoir sands were delineat ed and correlat ed across wells 2, 5, 1, 4, 6
except for well 3 which has no inform at ion. Most of t he sand unit s in well 5 were observed t o
occur at a greater depth with respect to well 2 and 1 (Fig. 4). Based on the petrophysical analysis,
t hree hydrocarbon bearing zones ( J, M and P sands) were ident ified. The pet rophysical para-
m et ers for wells 4 and 5 are present ed in Table 1.
Table 1 Sum m ary of Result s from Log Analysis in well 4 and 5 of ‘Danna’ Field

GROSS WELL 4 GROSS WELL 5

SAND THI CKNESS PHI E SWA N/ G THI CKNESS PHI E SWA N/ G

A 120.70 0.26 0.89 0.89 143.80 0.27 0.86 0.84

B 10.00 0.24 0.84 0.65 10.00 0.26 0.75 0.88
C 74.60 0.28 0.84 0.65 69.00 0.25 0.90 1.00
D 36.92 0.26 0.96 0.90 30.84 0.28 0.88 1.00
E 71.50 0.27 0.92 0.60 79.92 0.33 0.86 0.93
F 307.58 0.28 0.85 0.97 335.99 0.25 0.88 0.97
G 66.17 0.30 0.86 0.79 76.00 0.24 0.89 0.92
H 157.00 0.30 0.88 0.79 125.42 0.24 0.92 0.95
I 186.17 0.27 0.99 0.78 281.41 0.24 0.92 0.80
J 30.00 0.21 0.30 0.44 55.33 0.27 0.93 1.00
K 431.61 0.24 0.91 0.99 492.10 0.23 0.94 0.64
L 154.25 0.24 0.93 0.77 191.00 0.23 0.91 0.43
M 98.75 0.16 0.37 0.48 65.38 0.24 0.91 0.43
N 236.13 0.23 0.91 0.76 26.13 0.17 0.97 1.00
O 50.38 0.16 1.00 0.55 40.00 0.15 0.88 0.33
P 89.63 0.22 0.31 0.37 125.29 0.21 0.37 0.55
These param et ers vis - a - viz porosit y (PHI E), net pay, net - to - gross ratio (N/ G) and
water saturation (SWA) would help to effect ively quant ify t he reservoir in t erm s of t he
hydrocarbon pore volum e and am ount of hydrocarbon in place. Sand J is t he shallowest of
t he hydrocarbon bearing sands and is consist ent across t he wells. Sand M is also consist ent
along t he field wit h varying t hickness, a gas oil cont act ( GOC) and an oil wat er cont act
( OWC) exist in w ell 4 at dept hs 10, 572ft ( 3222m ) and 10, 592ft ( 3228m ) respectively ( Fig.
5). Sand P is the deepest of the hydrocarbon bearing sands, occurring at 11,070ft ( 3374m )
 J. O. Amigun, N. O. Bakare/Petroleum & Coal 55(2) 119-127, 2013 123

and 10,965ft ( 3342m ) in w ell 4 and 5 respect ively ( Fig 6) . I t s resist ivit y log shows t hat it is
wet in well 2. I n Figure 6, t he hydrocarbon t ype in well 5 observed from Densit y- Neut ron
cross plot is gas ( gas down t hrough, GDT) .

Fig. 4 Lit hologic Correlat ion Panel of Hydrocarbon Bearing Reservoirs of “ Danna” field, Niger
Delt a

Fig. 5 Sand M showing t he cont act s in well 4 and wet sand in well 5
 J. O. Amigun, N. O. Bakare/Petroleum & Coal 55(2) 119-127, 2013 124

Fig. 6 Sand P show ing t he cont act s in well 4 and GDT in well 5
A total of ten faults nam ely A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J were picked on the seism ic sect ions.
These fault s show a st ruct ural t rend which agrees w it h t he principles t hat em phasize t he
influence of t he rat io of sedim ent at ion t o subsidence rat es [ 9 ] . I n Figure 7a, t he st ruct ural
t rend shows m ore of collapsed crest st ruct ure at t he west ern part of t he field while grow t h
st ruct ures are persist ent at t he east ern par t ( Fig. 7b) .

Fig. 7 ( a) Collapse Crest st ruct ures on line 5800 and ( b) Growt h Fault s on line 5820
On t he seism ic sect ions, t he t hree horizons picked are nam ely; Horizon J, M and P. I n
Figure 8, horizon J t op lies on a t rough while horizon M and P were on a t rough and zero
crossing respect ively. The t im e and dept h st ruct ural m ap for t he t hree horizons generally
show s t he t wo m aj or grow t h fault s ( Fault s B and F) at t ribut ed wit h t he st udy area [ 1 0 ] . Fault
C, A and H are ant it het ic fault s while Fault D, G and E are synt het ic fault s. Horizon J t im e
m ap shows t he cont our line closing up wit h fault C t o give a fault dependent closure in
Figure 9. This closure gives a good prospect area i.e. est im at ed in acres as 223.603 acres.
Horizon M occurs at a deeper dept h wit h Fault C closer t o Fault F which is one of t he growt h
 J. O. Amigun, N. O. Bakare/Petroleum & Coal 55(2) 119-127, 2013 125

st ruct ures ( Fig. 10) . The t w o fault s give a fault assist ed st ruct ure favourable for hydrocarbon
accum ulat ion. The cont act s recognized from well logs are indicat ed on t he dept h m ap i.e.
gas oil cont act ( GOC) at 10,572ft and t he oil water contact (OWC) at depth 10,592ft. I t has a
prospect area of 652.331 acres. The horizon P is t he deepest of t he t hree horizons m apped
( Fig. 11) . The well 5 is at t he up - t hrow side of Fault C and it shows Fault C closing up
perfectly with Fault F which is one of the m aj or growt h fault s. The t wo fault s form a good
prospect area est im at ed at 727.185 acres.

Fig. 8 Seism ic sect ion showing sand t ops and horizons

Fig. 9 Horizon J t im e m ap is show ing t he fault s at t ribut ed wit h t he st udy area

 J. O. Amigun, N. O. Bakare/Petroleum & Coal 55(2) 119-127, 2013 126

Fig. 10 Horizon M dept h m ap shows t he gas oil cont act and t he oil wat er cont act .

Fig. 11 Horizon P dept h m ap show s t he shaded cont our lines closing up wit h fault C and
Fault F w hich is one of t he m aj or grow t h fault s in t he st udy area
The estim ation of hydrocarbon reserves was done using the derived petrophysical param et ers
and the result from seism ic interpretation. The gas reserve was estim ated to be 225,997 bbl/ ft 3
while t he oil reserve for t he t hree reservoirs ( Sand J, Sand M and Sand P) is com put ed as
6,566,089.09bb/ acre, 14,006,716bbl/ acre and 42,746,580bb/ acre respect ively.
 J. O. Amigun, N. O. Bakare/Petroleum & Coal 55(2) 119-127, 2013 127

5 . Conclusions
I n t his st udy, sixt een lit hological unit s were ident ified in Danna field w it hin t he form at ion
of int erest ( i.e. t he Agbada Form at ion) . Observat ion m ade from t he correlat ion of t he sam e
lit hologic unit shows t hat t hey vary in t hickness and dept h from one locat ion t o anot her wit hin
the field. Three hydrocarbon bearing sand units nam ely Sand J, M and P which lies within dept hs
9500ft ( 2896m ) and11,080ft ( 3377m ) were ident ified. Though varying in t hickness and
shale cont ent , each of t he sand unit is consist ent across t he field. They possess m inim um
hydrocarbon sat urat ion of 50% ; t heir porosit y was est im at ed as ranging bet ween 0.16 t o
0.27 and t herefore can be considered as hydrocarbon reservoirs.
The hydrocarbon bearing sand units were further evaluated using 3D seism ic int erpret at ion.
The horizons picked for t he t hree sand unit s were used t o generat e t im e and dept h cont our
m aps where t he closures were delineat ed and est im at ed in acres. The result of t he seism ic
int erpret at ion and pet rophysical analysis show s t hat t he reservoirs under considerat ion have
good hydrocarbon prospect .
6 . Ack now le dge m e nt s
We would like t o t hank Depart m ent of Pet roleum Resource ( DPR) , a subsidiary of Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for providing the dataset and Seism ic Micro– Technology,
I nc; USA and Schlum berger Nigeria Lim it ed for t he use of donat ed soft ware Kingdom Suit eTM
and Pet rel TM respect ively t o t he depart m ent of Applied Geophysics, Federal Universit y of
Technology, Akure.
Re fe r e nce s
[ 1] El- Mowafy, H. and Marfurt , K. ( 2008) : St ruct ural I nt erpret at ion of t he Middle Frio
Form at ion using 3D Seism ic and Well logs: An Exam ple from t he Gulf Coast of t he
Unit ed St at e. The Leading Edge, vol. 27, No 7, p 840 – 848.
[ 2] Klet t , T.R., Al brandt , T.S., Schm oker, J.W. and Dolt on, J.L. ( 1997) : Ranking of t he
world’s oil and gas provinces by known pet roleum volum es: U.S. Geological Survey
Open- file Report - 97- 463, CD- ROM.
[ 3] Evam y, B. D., Harem boure J., Kim berling R., Knaap W.A. and Molloy, F.A. ( 1978) :
Hydrocarbon habit at of t ert iary Niger Delt a, Nigeria, AAPG Bullet in, vol. 62: 1- 39.
[ 4] Weber, K. J., and Daukoru, E. M. ( 1975) : Pet roleum geology of t he Niger Delt a:
Proceedings of t he Nint h World Pet roleum Congress, volum e 2, Geology: London,
Applied Science Publishers, Lt d., p. 210- 221.
[ 5] Doust , H. and Om at sola, O. ( 1990) : Niger Delt a; I n Divergent and Passive m argin
Basin ( Edwards J.D. Sant oyrossi P.A. Eds.) Am erican Associat ion of Pet roleum
Geologist s. Mem oir 48, 191- 248.
[ 6] Turt le L. W., Brownfield M.E, and Charpent ier R.R. ( 1999) : The Niger Delt a pet roleum
syst em : Niger Delt a Province, Nigeria Cam eroon and Equat orial Guinea, Africa open-
file Report 99- 50- H.p. 7- 38.
[ 7] Beka, F. T., and Ot i, M. N. ( 1995) : The offshore Niger Delt a: front ier ( 16) 2, 112- 156
[ 8] Dobrin, M.B. and Savit , C.H. ( 1988) , I nt roduct ion t o Geophysical Prospect ing,
McGraw Hill Book Co., I nc. New York, 78- 113, 202- 213, 286- 327.
[ 9] Curt is, D. M., ( 1970) : Miocene delt aic sedim ent at ion, Louisiana Gulf Coast . [ I n: ] J. P.
Morgan ( Ed.) : Delt aic sedim ent at ion - m odern and ancient . SEPM Special Publicat ion
15, 293- 308.
[ 10] Koledoye A.B., Aydin A. and May E. ( 2000) : Three – dim ensional Visualizat ion of
Norm al fault Segm ent at ion and it s I m plicat ion for fault Growt h. The Leading Edge,
vol. 19, No 7, p 692 – 701.