Page 136 - The Petroleum System From Source to Trap

130 Morse

Table 6.4. Deltaic Reservoirs

Location Thickness Depositional
Field Country Basin Age a Formation of Pay (m) Environment
Burgan Kuwait K Wasia Deltaic and shallow
shelf
Safaniya Saudi Arabia U K Khafji Stacked delta plain,
mouth bar, and bay fill
Hibernia Canada U J Hibernia 68 Delta plain, straight
channel, fluvial delta
Badak Indonesia Mio--Piio Balikpapan - H tacked delta plain, channel,
Bekapai Indonesia Mio--Piio Balikpapan - mouth bar, and delta
Handil Indonesia Mio--Piio Balikpapan - front cycles with shelf ss
Oseberg Norway Oseberg Ness Delta lobes (2) stacked
with delta plain
Smorbukk Norway Tilje, lle, Tidal influenced shoreline
and Gam and braided delta complex
Beatrice United J Brent 1 1 0 Stacked channels,
Kingdom beach barrier, and deltaic
Ninian United J Brent 1 1 0 Fluvial-deltaic
Kingdom
Statljord U.K.-Norway J Brent and 300 Deltaic front, mouth
Statfjord bar, and channels
Cano, Colombia Eoc Mirador Ss 65-1 50 River-dominated delta,
Lemon stacked lobes and channels
Mid-Caspian C.I.S. U J -K Marine-deltaic
Basin System
W. Siberian C.I.S. U J -K Deltaic
System
Nembe Nigeria M M io Deltaic ss (ancestral
Creek Niger Delta)
TiaJuana, Venezuela Eoc Misoa Ss Fluvial-deltaic
Lagunnillas Venezuela Eoc Misoa Ss Fluvial-deltaic
Cambay-Hazad (!) India M E oc Hazad Fm Prograding deltaic ss
System
Prudhoe Bay U.S.A. (Alaska) L Tr Sadlerochit Deltaic, fluvial and
marginal marine
Salt Creek U.S.A. U K Frontier Ss Wave-dominated delta
(Wyoming) and offshore bars
Eugene U.S.A. Plio­ 330 Delta front ss on
Island (Gulf of Pieist marine shelf
Block 300 Mexico)
au, upper, L, lower, M, middle; Tr, Triassic; J, Jurassic; K, Cre1aceous; Eoc, Eocene; Mio, Miocene; Plio, Pliocene; Pleist, Pleistocene.
bA. antidine: Up. unconfo�mity pinchout; Bl. ti�ed block: St. stratigraphic: D. domal: RIO. rollover anticline or growth tau�: : WrA. wrench anticline.
cv. vertical; Lt, lateral.

is contemporaneous with deposition, causing the culminations like these supergiants. Modern deltas,
hanging wall sands to thicken with accumulation of particularly river- or tide-dominated ones such as the
gravity remobilized distributary mouth bar sands. Thus, Mississippi (Holland et al., 1980), the Niger (Nelson,
not only are trapping structures formed by listric growth 1980), and the Mahakam (Buffington and Helmig, 1980),
faults but the reservoir rocks are thickened as well. are commonly the site of large accumulations because
The biggest siliciclastic oil fields in the world are thick reservoir rocks and seals are stacked adjacent to
formed by stacked deltaic sands (Table 6.4). The Burgan growth faults that form rollover anticlines. These traps
field in Kuwait (Halbouty, 1980a) contains 66 billion bbl are commonly charged with hydrocarbons by a more
of recoverable oil reserves. Its neighbor, the Safaniya­ distal or underlying mature source rock.
Khafji field, a broad anticlinal trap in northern offshore
Saudi Arabia, can produce over 32 billion bbl of oil from
stacked deltaic sandstones (Ayers et al., 1982). Because SHALLOW MARINE RESERVOIRS
distributary mouth bar sands can extend for considerable
Coastal areas with potential reservoir sand that are
distances offshore, they can be overlain by sealing shales not associated with active deltas include barrier islands,
and underlain by deep marine muds that are commonly
ebb and flood tidal deltas, shallow shelf sands, and
a good source rock. The mouth bars can capture and offshore bars or ridges. A prograding sequence of these
direct great amounts of hydrocarbons to structural