Facies variability of pennsylvanian oil-saturated carbonate rocks (constraints from Bashkirian reservoirs of the south-east Tatarstan)

Abstract

One of the strategic ways of the old oil-producing regions is to further prospecting for potentially promising areas for hydrocarbon. One of these exploration areas is the Volga-Ural region. These reservoirs consist of Carboniferous carbonate rocks, which contain high viscous hydrocarbons and are characterized by complex facies architecture and reservoir properties influenced by diagenesis. The high degree of facies variability in the studied area does not allow reliable distribution of potential reservoir rocks not only between different areas but even within the same oil field. Based on textural and compositional features of carbonate facies, 5 main facies associations were identified and characterized with respect to the depositional settings in the Bashkirian basin. The facies associations correspond to: distal middle ramp facies, open marine proximal middle ramp facies, high-energy innershoal facies, inner ramp facies of restricted lagoons, facies of affected by subaerial exposures. From west to east in the study the following trends in facies characterare identified: 1) a decrease open marine middle ramp facies and in the total thickness of the Bashkirian sections; 2) an increase in evidences of sub aerial exposures; 3) a decrease in the proportion of potential reservoir rocks. A general shallowing of the depositional setting was identified in an eastward direction, where potentially promising reservoir facies of shallow high-energy environments were replaced by facies of restricted lagoon and facies affected by subaerial exposures and meteoric diagenesis (palaeosols, dissolution). The applied approach based on detailed carbonate facies analysis allows predicting the distribution of potentially promising cross-sections within the region.