The Impact of Detrital Minerals on Reservoir Flow Zones in the Northeastern Bredasdorp Basin, South Africa, Using Core Data

Abstract

The present study uses core data to group reservoirs of a gas field in the Bredasdorp Basin offshore South Africa into flow zones. One hundred and sixty-eight core porosity and permeability data were used to establish reservoir zones from the flow zone indicator (FZI) and Winland’s methods. Storage and flow capacities were determined from the stratigraphy-modified Lorenz plot (SMLP) method. The effects of the mineralogy on the flow zones were established from mineralogy composition analyses using quantitative X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Results reveal five flow zones grouped as high, moderate, low, very low, and tight reservoir rocks. The high flow zone is the best reservoir quality rock and has porosity and permeability values ranging from 12 to 20% and 100 to 1000 mD. The high and moderate zones contribute more than 60% of each well’s flow capacities. The moderate and low flow zone extends laterally to all the wells. The tight flow zone is an impervious rock and has the lowest rock quality with porosity and permeability values less than 8% and 1 mD, respectively. This zone contributes less than 1% to flow capacity. The impact of minerals on flow zones is evident in plagioclase and muscovite content increases. An accompanied decrease in quartz content is observed, which implies that low plagioclase content ≤4% and muscovite content of ≤1% corresponds to the low, moderate, and high flow zones, while plagioclase content of ≥4% and muscovite content of ≥1% belong to the tight flow zone. Consequently, the quantity of plagioclase and muscovite can be used as a proxy to identify better quality reservoir rocks. The diagenetic process that reduces the rock quality can be attributed to quartz overgrowth and the accumulation of mica flakes in the pore spaces. In contrast, the fracture in the high flow zone is the reservoir quality enhancing process. The flow zones are generally controlled by a combination of facies and diagenetic factors.