Reservoir Characterization of the Horn Mountain Oil Field, Mississippi Canyon, Gulf of Mexico
Abstract
Horn Mountain Field is a mid-sized oil and associated gas field located in the northeastern corner of Mississippi Canyon, Gulf of Mexico. Production at Horn Mountain Field declined significantly since 2006 with an increased water cut in most wells. Boost in production is expect with some new wells and mid-life work. To assist the rework of the field and plan for future development, characterization of the reservoir is necessary. This study is based on geologic interpretation of a seismic volume and well log data. A model was built based on the interpreted faults and horizons using PETREL™ software.
Horn Mountain field mainly produced from two Middle Miocene sands: J and M sands. J sands were interpreted to be deposited in a relatively confined levee channel with lower Net-to-Gross ratio (N/G; ~15-40%) and M sands formed a confined channel with N/G (20-80%). The field is divided in to three main fault blocks: north fault block (NFB), central fault block (CFB) and eastern fault block (EFB). J sands juxtapose across the fault that separates CFB and EFB where different OWC were identified, which indicates hydrocarbon generated from source rock migrating along major bounding fault to the north, where NFB was charged then subsequently spill to CFB and EFB. It also indicates stratigraphic barrier in J sands.
The total deterministic volume is calculated based on a model. The model was built from the well-top depth controlled seismic interpretation, where N/G was calculated based on correlation between seismic amplitude and well log N/G observation and reservoir parameters from well logs. Model based calculation indicates that the recoverable oil is 26 MOBE for J sands and 127 MOBE for M2 sands, which is the main contributor from stacked M sands. Over half of the reserves for both J and M sands are within NFB, and around 30% in CFB. Only one well produced the down-dip portion of M2 from the EFB. There is potentially 4 MOBE from J sand and 22 MOBE recoverable from M2 in EFB, where the 4 MOBE of J sands was not penetrated (tested or produced) based on the data available. Future development of the unpenetrated block should significantly increase the future production with near field development.
Citation
Li, Yujia (2015). Reservoir Characterization of the Horn Mountain Oil Field, Mississippi Canyon, Gulf of Mexico. Master's thesis, Texas A & M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /161243.