SPE-169510-MS

Characterizing the Oil Reservoirs in the Uinta Basin

Richard Merkel and Margaret Lessenger, Newfield Exploration

Copyright 2014, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Western North American and Rocky Mountain Joint Regional Meeting held in Denver, Colorado, USA, 16–18 April 2014.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
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Abstract
Oil reservoirs in the Uintah Basin are extremely complex and have to be considered in the
‘Unconventional’ category. This is partially because of the lacustrine depositional environment which
resulted in numerous self-sourcing reservoirs that vary greatly in wettability and mineralogy (very
clastic to very carbonate). Analysis of these reservoirs is compounded because of the low
porosity/permeability, high paraffin content, and natural fracture distribution. Standard log analysis to
determine OIP has proved problematic. As a result, a more unconventional logging suite to examine
fluid distribution and properties is being employed.

This paper presents some of our findings in the understanding of the liquid hydrocarbon
distribution. Only then are we able to determine efficient primary production techniques as well as
flow characteristics for secondary water-flood projects. Because of the discontinuous nature of the
reservoirs, we have found that some intervals are most economically produced with vertical wells
while others are best produced with horizontals.

The viscosity of the oil is highly temperature dependent because of the high paraffin content.
The viscosity is also dependent upon asphaltine content which is present in the ‘black’ wax oil
component. Fortunately, with new NMR techniques and continuous logging, the in-situ viscosity of the
oil can be estimated. The NMR log is also used to differentiate between solid hydrocarbon (kerogen)
and the liquid component. Dielectric measurements provide us with a water volume estimate that is
essentially independent of the water salinity. This is particularly valuable in the water-flood area of the
reservoir to determine remaining oil and residual oil saturation.

Petrophysical results from the open-hole logging that are calibrated to core are used in
combination with core flooding experiments to feed into reservoir models. Fluid flow characteristics in
this complex environment are measured at in-situ conditions through proper petrophysical analysis of
core and logs.
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INTRODUCTION

Porosity, permeability, hydrocarbon volume, relative permeability, residual oil saturation, and
irreducible water saturation are all petrophysical parameters that are important in reservoir
characterization and dynamic modeling (simulation). Unfortunately, the calculation of any (or all) of
these parameters in the Green River formation in the Uintah Basin is not straight forward. The
development of petrophysical models in the Uintah Basin has proven to be a challenge because of the
complexity induced as a result of the lacustrine depositional environment. In the Monument Butte
Field, there are more than twenty separate producing sand units, each with its unique properties.
Many of the reservoirs are self-sourcing and have great variability in wettability, mineralogy, and oil
quality. As a result, those rock properties mentioned above which directly affect oil production require
advanced logging suites and complex petrophysical models.

POROSITY and SATURATION

Mineralogy in the reservoir intervals vary in carbonate, clastic, and clay components. As a
result, single or even dual mineralogy models are inaccurate. With the aid of extensive core XRD
mineralogy, we have found that an inverse (probabilistic) multi-mineralogy porosity determination
best represented core porosity at reservoir conditions. Once this porosity model was established,
techniques to populate water and hydrocarbons within the pore space became the next important
issue.
After extensive model testing, it was determined that of the numerous shaly sand models, the
Indonesian Equation, which was developed for a fresh water environment, calculated oil/water
saturations most consistent with core, NMR, dielectric, and production data. The Indonesian Equation
can be written in the form:

1/Rt = (PHIEm*Swn)/Rw + 2*VSH(1-VSH/2)*(PHIEm/(Rw*Rsh))0.5 * Swn + VSH(2-VSH)*Swn/Rsh. Equation 1

Where 'm' and 'n' represent Archie's cementation and saturation exponents, PHIE is the effective
porosity, VSH is shale volume, Rt and Rw are deep and water resistivity, and Rsh is shale resistivity.
Sensitivity analysis of the parameters in Equation 1 shows that after porosity, the parameters that
effect the saturation calculation the most are m and n. Unfortunately, because of the high paraffin
content of the oil, and the variability in wettability and clay content, obtaining reliable SCAL
measurements on cleaned and then restored-state core is problematic. We developed a technique to
measure both m and n in-situ using dielectric measurements in combination with a shallow resistivity
measurement. Details of the technique can be found in Ramakrishna et al (2013) and Lessenger et al
(2013). The variability of the Archie exponents in the lower Green River formation in the Uintah Basin is
shown in Figure 1. This variability is a result of changing pore types and wettability in the numerous
reservoirs, and has been related to changing lake levels within the basin (see Lessenger et al 2013).
Equation 1 shows that as either m or n increases, water saturation increases. Oil-wet rocks tend to
increase the value of ‘n’, which can account for the skewed distribution in Figure 1b to values in excess
SPE-169510-MS 3

of 2.2. Water saturation analysis (Equation 1) with the high values of ‘n’ in the oil wet intervals is most
often offset by resistivities in excess of 1000 ohmm. The combined effect allows for calculated
saturations that are consistent with core and production. Knowledge of the water saturation in each
facies is critical for completion because it not only identifies the volume of oil targets but because the
water saturation/distribution also affects 1) the log absolute permeability calculation and 2) the
relative permeability calculation for estimation of movable oil and movable water.

Figure 1; Archie exponents ‘m’ and ‘n’ in the lower Green River formation. The red arrows show the values of 2.0 for each
exponent, which are often considered first order defaults.

PERMEABILITY

Core porosity-permeability at reservoir net confining stress (NCS) is complex, as shown in Figure
2. This figure plots the Winland rock classification curves superimposed on the raw core data colored
by producing interval. These data indicate multiple pore types. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)
measurements of T1 and T2 have enabled us to develop an NMR permeability model tied to core
Klinkenberg air permeability. The model is based on porosity, pore size distribution, clay bound water
and Irreducible water saturation. Although these variables cannot be measured with a standard triple-
combo logging suite they can be approximated with the results from the mineralogy based inverse
petrophysical model. Hence a permeability model relating to more than simply porosity can be applied
to wells that do not have NMR logs.

Figure 2; Core Porosity-Permeability relationships in the lower Green River formation with respect to typing with the
Winland flow units.
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What these permeability models cannot do is to compensate for fracture permeability since
they are based in matrix parameters. The Uintah Basin is in a tectonically active area that has multiple
fracture systems over the age of the basin. Accordingly, an understanding of the fracture frequency
and orientation is critical for specific stratigraphic units to understand oil production. An example of
the fracture frequency and orientation for a 263 foot frac stage in a horizontal well through one
stratigraphic unit is shown in Figure 3. In this example there was an average of 134 fractures with ~90
degree strike and 201 fractures with ~144 degree strike over the 263 feet. Although fracture frequency
varies with stratigraphic units, it is quite obvious with this high a fracture frequency, fracture
permeability plays a significant role in oil production.

Figure 3; Fracture strike direction and frequency along a 263 foot frac stage in a horizontal well.

OIL VISCOSITY

The oil in the Green River formation varies in paraffin content (15-25%) and asphaltine content
(0.5-6%) depending upon burial depth/temperature and stratigraphic unit. The oil is often simplified
into "black" and "yellow" wax. Figure 4 shows viscosity vs. temperature measurements on these two
types of oil at constant pressure. Production of these oils is dependent upon both type and depth
(temperature). Diffusion analysis of continuous NMR T1 and T2 data allows for an estimation of oil
viscosity for each reservoir. Figure 5b shows an example of the T2D plot between diffusion and intrinsic
T2 inversions that is used to calculate oil viscosity. Figure 5a shows the results of this calculation in
track 5 along with PVT measured oil viscosity. The agreement is very good in the reservoir intervals
indicated by the green shading at high T2 in track 5.

Figure 4; Dead oil viscosity as a function of temperature for Uintah ‘black’ and ‘yellow’ wax.
SPE-169510-MS 5

Figure 5; Continuous calculation of oil viscosity with the NMR T2D plots compared with PVT data.

NMR data are also used to differentiate between liquid and solid hydrocarbons. Since the NMR
tool responds primarily to liquid and gas phases, the difference between the inverse porosity model,
which cannot differentiate between liquid oil and kerogen, and the measured NMR porosity can be
converted to the solid (kerogen) component of the hydrocarbon content (see Ramakrishna et al, 2013).
Figure 6a shows the results of the porosity, oil and water volumes in an interval of the lower Green
River formation. Track 1 gives the mineralogy calculation and track 2 shows the bulk volume
calculations in the pore space (green is oil, blue is water). By comparison, Figure 6b shows the same
interval with the NMR calculated kerogen calculation as part of the oil volume. Black is the kerogen
component and green represents the remaining volume of liquid oil.

Figure 6; Petrophysical mineralogy and saturation model without (6a) and with (6b) NMR input. The NMR calculation
separates solid hydrocarbon (black) from liquid hydrocarbon (green).
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RELATIVE PERMEABILITY, Swi, and Sor

Portions of the Greater Monument Butte Unit Field (GMBU) are currently undergoing water-
flooding for secondary recovery. The efficiency of the water-flood is strongly controlled by pore-scale
flow properties, reservoir continuity, and reservoir pressure in addition to operational implementation
issues such as injection pressure, injection water quality and chemistry, and timing of injection
initiation. Ultimate potential recovery is measured by the difference between initial oil saturation and
residual oil saturation after water-flood implementation, or bulk volume of movable oil. Bulk volume
movable oil can be estimated from the relative permeability endpoints of irreducible water saturation
(Swi) and residual oil saturation (Sor). The wide range in rock quality and pore-scale wettability of
GMBU reservoirs results in a wide range in relative permeability end-points. Consequently, no single
relative permeability curve can characterize the ultimate movable oil potential.

Over 30 relative permeability core experiments have been conducted on GMBU core from the
1970s to 2013 (Figure 7). These measurements are from multiple labs and experimental setups further
complicating the analysis. In spite of the variability of relative permeability experiments, there are two
possible Swi-Sor trends in the data. In general, samples with increasing rock quality as determined by
porosity and permeability are associated with lower Swi values. The degree of oil-wetness can be
estimated from the Sw value associated with equal relative oil and water permeability, or crossover
Sw. Samples with increasing oil-wetness are associated with the positive slope on the Sor-Swi plots.
The two trends diverge at lower Swi values for rocks with the best rock quality and most oil-wet.

Figure 7; All available core data with Swi-Sor measurements showing two trends when Swi is less than 0.25%.

The problem was to determine which trends are applicable to GMBU reservoirs and under what
conditions. Al-Ansi and Blunt (2013) identify similar trends in relative permeability end-point data for a
carbonate reservoir. Based on numerical experiments they hypothesize that one trend occurs in water-
wet rocks (negative slope) and the other trend occurs in oil-wet rocks (positive slope) as shown in
Figure 7. Some of the relative permeability experiments were conducted on either cleaned samples or
were first flooded with brine. These experimental setups render a sample more water-wet, obscuring
SPE-169510-MS 7

the original wettability. When the data are filtered by relative permeability experiments using native-
state or restored-state plugs, the data follow the oil-wet trend (Figure 8).

Figure 8; Data from Figure 7 filtered to only native state or restored state core showing the change to positive slope seen in
oil-wet rock.

In 2013 Newfield started a pilot program to down-space from 20-acre to 10-acre well-spacing
within the water-flood. It was anticipated that these wells would encounter virgin, depleted and
pressured reservoirs in the same well-bore due to the response of discontinuous reservoirs to water-
flood implementation. Typically, the dielectric free water matches the calculated bulk volume water in
the invaded zone (BVWx) (Figure 9). GMBU wells are drilled with relatively fresh water-based mud. In
the invaded zone, pore water is a mixture of original saline formation brine and mud filtrate resulting
in an Rxo less than the mud filtrate. Within GMBU reservoirs at normal pressures, invasion is minimal
resulting in consistently good matches between BVWx estimated from a resistivity model and BVWx
estimated from the dielectric data as shown in Figure 9. In contrast, depleted zones within the 10-acre
pilot wells (Figure 10) experienced significant flushing in the invaded zone as demonstrated by a visual
comparison of sidewall cores in plain and UV light (Figures 9 and 10). Consequently the invaded-zone
brine in these reservoirs consists solely of fresh mud filtrate with a much higher resistivity than the
resistivity of a mixture of formation brine and mud filtrate. The BVWx calculated by the resistivity
model is much lower than the BVWx estimated from the salinity-independent dielectric data as seen in
Figure 10.
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Figure 9; Core, log, and MDT pressures in a normally pressured sand.

Figure 10; Core, log, and MDT pressures in a depleted sand.

Because GMBU reservoirs are commonly at irreducible water saturation, nearly complete
flushing of the depleted reservoirs is an in-situ relative permeability experiment. Assuming the
reservoir was initially at Swi, the relative permeability end points can be calculated from the dielectric
data (Figure 11). These data more closely match the water-wet trend in the GMBU core end-point
data. We do not understand the discrepancy between the relative permeability core data (Figure 8)
and relative permeability from log data (Figure 11). It is possible that flushing in the invaded zone is
incomplete and results in a too-high Sor. It is also possible that rapid flushing of low salinity filtrate
renders the rock water-wet and is not a good analog for waterflood recovery estimation.
SPE-169510-MS 9

Figure 11; Dielectric log data trends compared with core data line from Figure 7.

ROCK COMPRESSIBILITY

Core and dipole sonic data show that the rocks in the Green River formation are highly variable
in elastic rock properties; in particular Young’s Modulus and Poisson’s Ratio. This appears to be true on
the more carbonate rocks and less so in the clastics. High Poisson’s Ratio and/or low Young’s Modulus
rock is found to be a related to high kerogen content or high clay content. These intervals become
problematic for fracking the formations and, as reservoir pressure is reduced, the ability to maintain
open natural or induced fractures. Core porosity and permeability reduction (with respect to 800psi)
for dolomite with low clay in the Uteland Butte carbonate sequence is shown in Figure 12. Note that
the permeability reduction shown in Figure 12b is on a logarithmic scale. The two samples with the
least perm reduction have no associated kerogen. The remaining three core plugs had increased
kerogen as the permeability reduction became more severe.

Figure 12; Compaction effects on porosity (12a) and permeability (12b) with five core samples in the Uteland Butte
dolomite with varying kerogen content.
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FLUID SENSITIVITY TESTING

To better understand potential damage from either frac fluids or waterflood chemistry,
numerous cores were cold cleaned to preserve clay integrity and subjected to fluids of various
composition to see the effect on permeability. All four main clay types exist in the clastic reservoir rock
and the effect of salt type and salinity was examined as well as pH, and clay stabilizers. Figure 13 shows
the results of one of these tests where the core plug permeability was initialized at 25,000ppm NaCl
(which approximates ground water salinity), then systematically reduced to 5,000ppm NaCl by steps of
5,000ppm. Permeability monotonically decreases as the salinity decreases down to approximately 50%
of the initial value. To test to see if perm reduction as a result of clay swelling could be reversed, at the
end of the experiment, the core sample was flooded (about 18 pore volumes) with 7% KCl. As can be
seen in this figure, the permeability did not change.

Figure 13; Core permeability variation resulting from flowing through fluids with varying salinity.

In anticipation of the clay swelling with reduced salinity water, the NMR T2 distribution of the
core plug was taken at the end of each step. These data were collected to see if NMR measurements
could be made to quantify clay effects and is shown in Figure 14. This distribution is related to the pore
size distribution, with larger pores having larger T2 values. The clay bound water window in this data
set is between 0.1 and 2.8ms. As can be seen in this plot, as water salinity decreases, there is an
increase in the volume of clay bound water. Inversion of these data with the permeability transform
we developed for these reservoirs gives decreasing permeability with decreasing water salinity. There
is an inconsistency between the measured data and the NMR data with the final stage of the 7% KCl
flood. The NMR data indicate that the clay bound water decreases to the initial state (25,000ppm NaCl)
and the NMR perm calculation indicates that initial perm is restored. Measured permeability shown in
Figure 13 did not change. Obviously there are physical changes going on in the core in addition to clay
swelling.
SPE-169510-MS 11

Figure 14; Core NMR T2 distributions measures after each salinity step shown in Figure 13. The reduced salinity increases
the clay bound water content at each step.

CONCLUSIONS

The inherent complexity of the numerous reservoirs in the Green River formation in the Uintah
Basin has led to an equally complex petrophysical model for field development. In order to understand
this environment, extensive coring and core analysis has been required along with logging suites with
special measurements. Evaluation techniques are evolving as new data become available. We have had
to use core measurements specifically tailored for this unique environment as well as log
measurements and interpretation models that are also out of the norm. This advanced analysis has
allowed us to better characterize the multiple reservoirs in the Uintah Basin, and this understanding is
leading toward better recovery processes.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are grateful to Newfield Exploration for their support in the acquisition and analysis
of all the data used in this paper. The authors also wish to acknowledge Sandeep Ramakrishna and Roy
Medina at Halliburton and John Gardner at CoreLab for their contributions. Without their support and
Newfield’s backing, none of this would have been possible.

REFERENCES

Al-Ansi, N., and Blunt, M. J., 2013, Measurements of Remaining Oil Saturation in Mixed-wet Carbonates, SCA
Annual Meeting Symposium Transactions, 2013-050.

Lessenger, M., Merkel, R., Sullivan, B., and Burton, D., 2013, Application of Dielectric and
Standard Logging Suites to Characterize the Stratigraphic and Lithologic Variations in Archie
Parameters Within the Green River Formation of the Greater Monument Butte Field, Uinta Ba
sin, Utah, USA: SPWLA 54th Annual Logging Symposium Transactions, paper QQ.

Ramakrishna, S., Merkel, R., Balliet, R., and Lessenger, M., 2013, Mineralogy, Porosity, Fluid Property, and
Hydrocarbon Determination of Oil Reservoirs of the Green River Formation in the Uinta Basin: Petrophysics, vol.
54, no.3, p. 274-288