1. Initial Analysis of Hydrocarbon Potential in the Tablazo Formation; Center and Northern Areas of Middle Magdalena Valley, -MMV- Colombia
- Author
-
Cesar, A. Rojas Suarez, Yahir A. Valderrama Lopez, and Miguel F. Jimenez Jacome
- Subjects
business.industry ,Geochemistry ,Structural basin ,Block (meteorology) ,Cretaceous ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Geography ,chemistry ,Petroleum industry ,Environmental protection ,Streamflow ,Kerogen ,Carbonate ,business ,Oil shale - Abstract
The MMV has produced oil from Tertiary conventional reservoirs for over 80 years. The Near Field Exploration -NFEteam of Ecopetrol focused in 2014 in reviewing and testing additional Cretaceous objectives, for example Simiti, Tablazo, Rosablanca and La Luna Formations, in areas with presence of old oil fields, like Casabe and Tisquirama. For this activity, the Casabe-K1 well was drilled, and the initial results show opportunities for unconventional reservoirs in Tablazo Formation. The chromatographic data collected by GC Tracer TM system, indicated a zone of condensate to dry gas. The Total Hydrocarbons data -THCfound in this interval was12%. Geochemical information, according to the samples from the well Casabe-199, located to 1,3 km to SW from the Casabe-K1 well, includes Type II Kerogen, TOC values between 4% and 9%, Vitrinite Reflectance (Ro%) between 0,95% to 1,35% and mineralogical composition dominated by carbonates and clays, where the carbonates clay relation increased with the depth, shifting from a 50% 50% to 90% 10%. Considering the mechanical and geometrical conditions of the well and geomechanical analysis of this Formation, 70 ft. in the middle to lower section of the Tablazo was selected for a pilot hydraulic fracking, to verify the hydrocarbons flow and its properties. 100 km. to the NE of the Casabe Field, in the Tisquirama production block, it is possible to identify the Tablazo Formation with some facial variations associated to an increase in the carbonate content, and a few different geochemical properties; for example TOC levels between 3% and 4%, and values of Vitrinite Reflectance (Ro%) between 0.8% and 1%, in the shallowest part of the block. The top of the Tablazo Formation in this block, according to the structural map, shows depths from 19000 ft. on the west side, to 10,000 ft. on the east area, indicating possible variations in thermal maturity of this unit, where they could be an oil source in the East side, and a gas source in the West side. With this kind of results, and the good stratigraphic continuity of the Tablazo Formation from the central to northern area of the MMV basin, it is possible to propose a 150 km. corridor as a shale play exploration target, in one area with good characteristics to make possible new unconventional fields in the mid-term, with major oil and gas facilities, historical relationship between the communities and the petroleum industry and the water sources available for the operations. Middle Magdalena Valley Currently, The Magdalena Valley Basin is the intermountain basin separating the two eastern branches of the Colombian Andes: The Central Cordillera to the west and The Eastern Cordillera Basin (ECB) to the East. The Magdalena River runs along the Magdalena Valley from south to north; following the downstream river flow, the Magdalena Valley has been divided into three basins: Upper Magdalena Valley, Middle Magdalena Valley (MMV) and Lower Magdalena Valley. The MMV is located in the central part of Colombia (Fig.1), and includes significant results for the petroleum industry for more than 100 years of exploration history.
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF