Integrated Reservoir Characterization Study of the McKee Formation, Onshore Taranaki Basin, New Zealand
Department of Physical and Geological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong BE 1410, Brunei Darussalam
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Geosciences 2018, 8(4), 105; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences8040105
Received: 10 January 2018 / Revised: 26 February 2018 / Accepted: 13 March 2018 / Published: 21 March 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from 1st International Congress on Earth Sciences in SE Asia)
The Late Eocene onshore McKee Formation is a producing reservoir rock in Taranaki Basin, New Zealand. An integrated petrophysical, sedimentological, and petrographical study was conducted to evaluate the reservoir characteristics of the McKee sandstone. A petrographic study of the McKee Formation classified the sandstone as arkose based on the Pettijohn classification. Porosity analysis showed predominantly intergranular porosity, as elucidated by the thin section photomicrographs. The good reservoir quality of McKee sandstone was suggested to be the result of the presence of secondary dissolution pores interconnected with the primary intergranular network. Mineral dissolution was found to be the main process that enhanced porosity in all the studied wells. On the other hand, the presence of clay minerals, cementation, and compaction were identified as the main porosity-reducing agents. These features, however, were observed to occur only locally, thus having no major impact on the overall reservoir quality of the McKee Formation. For a more detailed reservoir characterization, well log analysis was also applied in the evaluation of the McKee Formation. The result of the well log analysis showed that the average porosity ranged from 11.8% to 15.9%, with high hydrocarbon saturation ranging from 61.8% to 89.9% and clay volume content ranging from 14.9 to its highest value of 34.5%. Based on the well log analysis, the derived petrophysical and reservoir parameters exhibited good porosity, low clay content, and high hydrocarbon saturation, which indicates that the McKee Formation is a promising reservoir.
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Keywords:
McKee Formation; reservoir rock characterization; petrophysical analysis; petrographical analysis; reservoir quality control; Taranaki Basin; New Zealand
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MDPI and ACS Style
Dong, S.P.; Shalaby, M.R.; Islam, M..A. Integrated Reservoir Characterization Study of the McKee Formation, Onshore Taranaki Basin, New Zealand. Geosciences 2018, 8, 105. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences8040105
AMA Style
Dong SP, Shalaby MR, Islam MA. Integrated Reservoir Characterization Study of the McKee Formation, Onshore Taranaki Basin, New Zealand. Geosciences. 2018; 8(4):105. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences8040105
Chicago/Turabian StyleDong, Swee P.; Shalaby, Mohamed R.; Islam, Md. A. 2018. "Integrated Reservoir Characterization Study of the McKee Formation, Onshore Taranaki Basin, New Zealand" Geosciences 8, no. 4: 105. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences8040105
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