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2nd Conference of Western Iraqi Desert Geology and Surroundings (IDGC-2021) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1080 (2022) 012021 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1080/1/012021

3D Petrophysical Modeling of Mauddud Formation at Ratawi Oil

Field, Southern Iraq

Humam Q. Hameed1*, Afrah H. Saleh2

1
North Oil Company, Ministry of Oil, Iraq
2
Department of Geology, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq.
*Correspondence author's e-mail: Humamqu835@gmail.com

Abstract. 3D Petrophysical model for Mauddud Formation in Ratawi oilfield had been created. Five
wells have been chosen in Basra governorate to construct Structural and petrophysical (effective porosity,
water saturation and Net /Gross) models. Structural model showed that Ratawi oilfield composed of one
anticline fold, where its axis extends toward North to South. After creating zones for Mauddud
Formation, which was divided into 5 zones i.e. A, B, C, D and E zone. Layers were built for each zone
according to petrophysical properties. A, B and D units were divided in 1 layers as a barrier, While the
unit B was divided into 25 layers and the unit D was divided into 15 layers because it represents reservoir
zones. The 3D grid of Mauddud Formation model that was built consists of (841295) cell and each cell
have dimensions I =91 * J =215 * K =43. Finally, Petrophysical models (effective porosity, water
saturation and Net /Gross) had been constructed for each zone of Mauddud Formation. Based on data
analyses and results from modelling, the B then D is a important reservoir unit in terms of its good
properties (high effective porosity, low water saturation) and increase in production periods from the
thickness of the total reservoir.
1. Introduction
The Mauddud Formation considers the most spread the Lower Cretaceous formations in Iraq [1].
Cretaceous carbonate succession includes important hydrocarbon reservoirs in many parts of Arabian
plate. In Southern Iraq, some of these reservoirs exist within Mauddud Formation, and it is spread in
many oilfields [2]. According to Owen and Nasr (1958), this formation consists of organic limestone that
broken by occasional shale layers "green or bluish" [3].
The 3D petrophysical model is high significance to understand structural and stratigraphy aspects in a
petroleum field, because the recent technology makes conceivable the development of a petrophysical
model represented by a three dimensional point of view. During this study, a three-dimensional
petrophysical model was built from field and subsurface data for Mauddud Formation in Ratawi oilfield
by using by petrel 2017. Five wells Rt.3, Rt-19, Rt-24, Rt-25, and Rt-26 have been chosen in Basra
governorate to construct Structural and petrophysical (effective porosity, water saturation and Net
/Gross) model represented by a 3D static Petrophysical model for all reservoir unit.
2. Study Area
Ratawi Field situated within outer plat form within Arabian plate, in Mesopotamian zone at Zubair
subzone (southern Iraq) [4], about 70 km northwest of the Basra city and about 12 kilometers west of
North Rumaila[5], as well as the geographic coordinates of its wells, are listed in Table 1. The first time
the Ratawi field was recognized at (the beginning of 1940) via the gravitational surveys, later wiped this
area during (1947 -1948) via Basra Oil Company by utilizing seismic surveyed, Figure 1.
Table 1 The coordinates of studied wells in Ratawi oilfield, from (Final geological reports)

Well Name Eastern Northern

Rt-3 700067 3386462
Rt-24 700100 3385450
Rt-19 699587 3382903
Rt-25 699237 3382779
Rt-26 698 500 3380512

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Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
2nd Conference of Western Iraqi Desert Geology and Surroundings (IDGC-2021) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1080 (2022) 012021 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1080/1/012021

Fig. 1. Location map of study area.

3. Data Preparation
The data preparation is the basis for the geological model. This geologic model building predominantly
applies in the software [6]. Well, data are transported in three steps:
a. Well heads: Consist of (location of each well and measured depth along the path).
b. Well tops: Consist of depths of the units that have been previously divided by interpretation the well
logs which that imported from the IP software, normally the change in stratigraphy.
c. Well logs: Well logs (resistivity, density, sonic, neutron, and gamma-ray) and CPI (water saturation
and effective porosity) for five wells of the Ratawi Oilfield were sent out from IP software and imported
to the Petrel software.

4. Data import:
Well correlation

Structural modeling, which includes:

 Pillar gridding

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2nd Conference of Western Iraqi Desert Geology and Surroundings (IDGC-2021) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1080 (2022) 012021 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1080/1/012021

 Make horizons

 Layering

Property modeling, which includes:

 Scale up well logs

Petrophysical modelling

5. Steps to construct Mauddud Petrophysical Models

Well correlation:
Correlation of Ratawi wells was applied as a relatively easy way to determine changes in Mauddud units
thickness and the changes of petrophysical properties (Porosity and water saturation) [7].
Figure 2 shows all units was thicker in crest of dome where the A and B units increased toward well
Rt-26, while the C, D and E units increased toward Rt-3. It was observed improvement in Reservoir
quality with increase thickness of the units, especially in the reservoirs unit's B and D. Where increased
the effective porosity and water saturation decreases in the southwest of the structure, especially at well
Rt-26 in unit B. But unit D show, this improvement was towards the northeast of the structure,
especially at wells Rt-3 and Rt-24.

Fig.2. N-S Correlation sections of Mauddud Formation for wells (Rt-3, Rt-24, Rt-19 and Rt-2

Structural modelling
This model represents a Geological structure of the study area from which all other models are made
[8]. Structural modelling represents building structural contour map for every unit for Mauddud
Formation in Ratawi oilfield. Where contour maps can be built via computer from the surface and
correlated borehole [9]. Figure -3 shown that the Ratawi Structure composed of one anticline fold, it is
about 21 km long and 9 km wide, with an axis extending north to south.

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2nd Conference of Western Iraqi Desert Geology and Surroundings (IDGC-2021) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1080 (2022) 012021 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1080/1/012021

Fig.3. Structural contour map of the of Mauddud Formation units in Ratawi oilfield.

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2nd Conference of Western Iraqi Desert Geology and Surroundings (IDGC-2021) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1080 (2022) 012021 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1080/1/012021

3D Grid Construction
3D grid represent the network of vertical and horizontal lines utilized to construct and describe a 3D
geological model. 3D-grid makeup is first step to building 3D-model. Obviously, the 3D grid splits the
model up into boxes. Every box called "grid cell" and will have single value as (water saturation,
effective porosity, single rock type, etc.), where is called as "cell's properties". This process is a
facilitation of the real case, but lets us to generate a representation of reality that can be utilized in
calculations, etc. [10].
Pillar Gridding
Pillar Gridding is a process of generation the "Skeleton Framework". This skeleton is a grid include of
a Top, a mid and a base skeleton grid, every linked to the Top, the mid and the Base points of the Key
Pillars [11].
Through the "Pillar Gridding", the 3D grid model of Mauddud Formation in Ratawi oilfield has been
build. Three skeletons were obtained in base, mid and top as seen in Figure -4. The grid that used in
Mauddud Formation was represented by 3D -grid systems of 100 grid along x-axis and 100 grid along
y-axis. Then, the three-dimensional network of Mauddud Formation model consisted of (841295) cells
and each cell had dimensions of I = 91 * J = 215 * K = 43.

Fig.4. Skeletons for Mauddud Formation in Ratawi Field.

Make Horizons
To construct the vertical layering of three dimensions grid by chosen "Making horizons" process in the
Petrel software. This gives the true three dimension approach in creation of two dimension surface, which
was gridded in same process, and we must take into account the relationships between the surfaces [12].
We need to convert the surfaces into horizons to be combined with 3D grid, which was done in the "Make
horizons" process. Five horizons have been constructing for Mauddud Formation by entering main
structural maps (that had been built in structural modeling) Figure -5.

Fig.5. The main zones of Mauddud Formation in Ratawi Oilfield

Layering
The final step in building the structural framework to characterize the thickness and orientation of the
layers between horizons of the 3D Grid. These layers in conjunction with the pillars characterize the 3D

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2nd Conference of Western Iraqi Desert Geology and Surroundings (IDGC-2021) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1080 (2022) 012021 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1080/1/012021

Grid cells that assigned attributes amid Petrophysical modeling [13]. Layering, In any case, is
characterized as the internal layering mirroring the geological deposition of a specific zone [10]. In
current study, the horizons that created between the surfaces were divided into several layers to increased
accurate depending on log behavior and quality of petrophysical properties, where unit B was divided into
25 layers and unit D into 15 layers because it considered as reservoir units with good petrophysical
properties, while one layer was placed for each non-reservoir units or tight rocks (A, C, and E) due to
their poor petrophysical properties Figure -6.

Fig.6. layering for Mauddud Formation in Ratawi Field.

Scale up the well logs:
The scale up is an important procedure that precedes the petrophysical properties modeling. Well log data
must be scaled up before they can be entered into the grid, because the cells of grid are often very larger
from the sample density for well logs. When the model has different properties, the modeled area is
divided by creating a 3D grid where each grid cell has a single value for each property [14]. For each grid
cell, all of the log values that fall within the cell will be averaged according to the selected algorithm to
produce one log value for that cell.
Many statistical methods found to apply scale up in petrel software as (harmonic, arithmetic, and
geometric method). Water saturation and effective porosity values in present model have been scaled up
by choosing following settings: average method "arithmetic", treat log "as point", and method "simple”.
Figure-7 shows the scale up setting for the Mauddud Formation model.

Fig.7. Scale up for wells Rt-25 in Mauddud formation.

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2nd Conference of Western Iraqi Desert Geology and Surroundings (IDGC-2021) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1080 (2022) 012021 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1080/1/012021

Petrophysical modeling process

Petrophysical property modeling is the process of assigning petrophysical property values to
each cell of the 3D grid.
There are many methods to generate this characterization, in the current study "Sequential
Gaussian Simulation" has been used which considered most widely used geostatistical methods
in the recent modeling projects. Effective porosity, water saturation and Net/Gross models are
built based on the results of effective porosity and water saturation values which have been
corrected then interpreted in IP software.

6. Results and Discussion

3D Mauddud Model is a large group of cells within the so-called grid that has been filled with
petrophysical properties (effective porosity and water saturation), in addition to N/G values. Where it
was built up in three dimensions (X, Y, Z) to shown the distribution of these properties within
reservoir units. Figure-8 shows the maximum and minimum mean for each of the petrophysical
properties.
This model illustrates that the Mauddud Formation in Ratawi Oilfield is consists of two reservoir
units are considered oil-bearing; (B, and D). These units are separated by 3 non-reservoir units
(barriers). The following is a description of reservoir units:
B unit: This unit considered a thicker than other units, ranges from (52.5m) in Rt-3 well to (59.5
m) in Rt-19 well, B unit was thicker in crest of dome and improved toward southwest.
The effective porosity ranging between (0.04) concentrated at the crest of the dome within well Rt-
19 to (0.26) in the south part of the field within well Rt-26. As for the water saturation ranging
between (0.001) concentrated at the south part of the field within well Rt-26 to (0.75) in the crest of
the dome within well Rt-19. While the N/G ranging between (0.62) concentrated at the crest of the
dome within well Rt-19 to (0.82) in the south part of the field within well Rt-26. B unit considered the
highest oil-bearing from other units Figure-9.
D unit: The thickness of D unit ranges from (26m) in Rt-26 well to (46 m) in Rt-3 well, where it
was thicker in crest of dome and improved toward northeast.
The effective porosity ranging between (0.04) concentrated at the southwest part of the field within
well Rt-26 to (0.20) in the north part of the field within well Rt-3 and Rt-24. As for the water
saturation ranging between (0.001) concentrated at the north part of the field within well Rt-3 and Rt-
24 to (0.75) in the south part of the field within well Rt-26. While the N/G ranging between (0.558) at
the south part of the field within well Rt-26 to (0.92) in the north part of the field within well Rt-3 and
Rt-24. B unit considered the second oil-bearing Figure-10.
Barriers A, C, E: The thickness of these barriers ranges from (2.5-14 m). The effective porosity
ranging between (0.001-0.09). As for the water saturation ranging between (1-0.77). While the N/G
ranging between (0.001-0.34). The improvement of the petrophysical properties was observed in the
barrier or zone C, only in well Rt-3 Figure-11 to 13.
Through studding the previous models, it was found that units B and D are considered the two main
reservoirs bearing most of Mauddud formation oil as a result of the availability of excellent reservoir
qualities from (highest effective porosity, lowest water saturation and high thickness of net pay).
Where these properties are increasing in the south of the structure, especially at wells Rt-26 within B
unit. While these properties are increasing in the north of the structure, especially at wells Rt-3 and Rt-
24 within D unit. The unit B is slightly better than D.

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2nd Conference of Western Iraqi Desert Geology and Surroundings (IDGC-2021) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1080 (2022) 012021 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1080/1/012021

Fig.8. shows the maximum and minimum mean for each of the petrophysical properties.

Fig.9. Petrophysical modeling of B unit of Mauddud Formation.

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2nd Conference of Western Iraqi Desert Geology and Surroundings (IDGC-2021) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1080 (2022) 012021 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1080/1/012021

Fig.10. Petrophysical modeling of D unit of Mauddud Formation.

Fig.11. Effective porosity cross section of Mauddud Formation in Ratawi oilfield

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2nd Conference of Western Iraqi Desert Geology and Surroundings (IDGC-2021) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1080 (2022) 012021 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1080/1/012021

Fig.12. Water saturation cross section of Mauddud Formation in Ratawi oilfield

Fig.13. N/G cross section of Mauddud Formation in Ratawi oilfield

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2nd Conference of Western Iraqi Desert Geology and Surroundings (IDGC-2021) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1080 (2022) 012021 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1080/1/012021

7. Conclusion
1. Structural modeling shows the Ratawi Structure composed of one anticline fold, it is about 21 km
long and 9 km wide, with an axis extending north to south.
2. The structural model for Mauddud Formation has been made using petrel software. This model
shows shown that the Ratawi Structure composed of one anticline fold, it is about 21 km long and 9
km wide, with an axis extending north to south.
3. Horizons were built for Mauddud Formation, and they are divided into 5 zones (A, B, C D and E).
Layers are designed for each zone based on petrophysical properties. A, B and D units were divided in
1 layers as a barrier, While the unit B was divided into 25 layers and the unit D was divided into 15
layers because it represents reservoir zones.
4. These models show improvement the reservoir quality within B then D units, which represents the
important oil bearing units in Mauddud Formation.
5. The optimum site distinguished with good reservoir characteristics is in (Rt-3) and (Rt-25) wells, as
shown in Figures -5, based on cross-sections of N/G models, water saturation, and effective porosity
built in an N-SW direction.

References
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Selected Wells from Ratawi Oil Field, Southern Iraq. Iraqi Journal of Science, 2956-2969.
[2] Sadooni, F. N., & Alsharhan, A. S., 2003. Stratigraphy, microfacies, and petroleum potential of
the Mauddud Formation (Albian–Cenomanian) in the Arabian Gulf basin. AAPG
bulletin, 87(10), 1653-1680.
[3] Oven, R. M. S., & Nasr, S. D. N., 1958. The stratigraphy of the Kuwait-Basrah area. Habitat fil.
The Middle East (ed. Weeks, GI), pp. i, 252-1278.
[4] Sissakian, V., Shihab, A. T., Al-Ansari, N., & Knutsson, S., 2017. New tectonic finding and its
implications on locating Oilfields in parts of the Gulf region. Journal of Earth Sciences and
Geotechnical Engineering, 7(3), 51-75.
[5] Al–Kubaisi, M. S., & Ahmed, M. M., 2018. Development of Ratawi Oil Field, Southern
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[8] Adaeze O.C. and U.P. Adiela, 2016. Facies Modelling and petrophysical propertiesof X-field
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[9] Pack, S., 2000. Creating 3D models of lithology using 3D grids, Dynamic graphics INC.,
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[10] Schlumberger, 2007. Petrel Structural modeling course .Schlumberger, pp: 105-123.
[11] Schlumberger, 2010. Petrel introduction course. Schlumberger, pp: 13-493.
[12] Schlumberger, 2010 (b). Reservoir Engineering Course. Schlumberger, 137-177p.
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[14] Schlumberger, 2015. Petrel property modeling course, 544p.

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