ABSTRACT
The exploratory projects of hydrocarbons in the Parnaíba Basin have primarily targeted Poti and Cabeças Formations. With the rich geological knowledge obtained from the drilling of wells, the Longá Formation is viewed as a potential new exploratory play. This formation, which some studies reckon that can act as seal or source-rock, is characterized by the intercalation of shales, siltstones, and sandstones. During the drilling of a well, with the subsequent detection of gas, three 18 m long whole-cores were extracted for geological and petrophysical studies. In addition, a complete set of conventional and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) logs were obtained along with laboratory analyses of routine core analysis (RCA), capillary pressure, NMR, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and rock mechanics, for a complete petrophysical evaluation.
The Longá reservoir is a complex reservoir with millimeter-thick laminations and reservoir layers with conductive minerals that suppress the resistivity curve. As a result, the log data had to be integrated with core data and ultimately a Domain-Transfer analysis model in uncored wells to correctly estimate petrophysical properties and make development decisions.
The integration of core-log data made it possible to obtain important information about the depositional environment, lithology, reservoir characterization, calibration of the main petrophysical parameters, and mechanical properties of rocks , which can help realize hydraulic fracturing, thereby contributing to production optimization and risk reduction in exploratory projects. The productivity of the well increased by approximately 500% after stimulation of reservoir. Furthermore, the subsequent drilling of a few more exploratory wells revealed the first commercial field of the Longá Formation in the Parnaíba Basin.
Petrophysical evaluation of thinly laminated reservoirs presents great complexity, especially regarding the estimation of hydrocarbon volume in place. Conventional well logging tools have a vertical resolution, which is larger than the size of the laminations in thinly laminated reservoirs, and thus fail to solve the petrophysical properties of these small layers. In addition, the presence of clay minerals generates an excess conductivity that affects the resistivity curve. The above- mentioned effects are known well in the petrophysical technical literature as complicating factors for the generation of reliable models. Additionally, this case study presents a greater difficulty due to the presence of complex mineralogy that contains metallic, heavy, and conductive minerals, thereby corroborating the need for complementary studies on core-log integration as a way of calibration of the main petrophysical parameters.
Geology is strongly related to the in situ measurements performed by well logs, and thus helps in deeply understanding the spatial distribution of petrophysical properties and geometry of the different lithologies. Given the type of reservoir that this work presents, special emphasis will be given to understanding the relationship between geology and petrophysics.
