1999 Abstracts

ADVANCED RESERVOIR CHARACTERIZATION FOR THE 21^st CENTURY

19^th ANNUAL BOB F. PERKINS RESEARCH CONFERENCE

GULF COAST SECTION SOCIETY OF ECONOMIC PALEONTOLOGISTS AND MINERALOGISTS FOUNDATION

Forward

When the Gulf Coast Section SEPM Executive Council first suggested that we consider organizing this conference, we expressed enthusiasm and the desire that this be an international rather than a provincial gathering. Through the hard work of the Program Advisory Committee and editor Tucker F. Hentz, and with the energetic support of the GCSSEPM Foundation, we are pleased to report that our goal was realized. We are grateful to the dozens of authors from around the world, from both industry and academia, who have contributed to this conference.

In recent years, the application of advanced approaches in reservoir characterization has greatly increased hydrocarbon recovery efficiency from structurally and stratigraphically complex siliciclastic and carbonate reservoirs both in mature fields and in new discoveries in domestic and international hydrocarbon basins. The papers in this volume focus on the most current interpretational and technological advances in reservoir characterization that are being used worldwide.

Within this volume you will find studies of reservoirs from North America, South America, Central America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and New Zealand. You ill also find studies of reservoirs in Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic age, as well as modern and ancient reservoir analogs. Modern reservoir characterization involves sophisticated application of modern technologies, and the investigations presented here are no exception. Perhaps most importantly, the technologies applied to the studies documented here are applied with a sound understanding of the geologic, geophysical, petrophysical, and engineering environments in which they were deployed, demonstrating the importance of these factors in making sound interpretations. The message here is clear: modern technologies are extremely powerful tools, but they must be yielded by well-trained and experienced scientists and engineers if they are to be effective.

As many of you know, the Gulf Coast Section of the SEPM is mourning the untimely death last April of our good friend and long-time section member Bob F. Perkins. As the founder and the first Executive Director of the GCSSEPM Foundation, Bob has been at the heart of these research conferences since they were initiated 20 years ago. For many veterans of these conferences, it will seem strange to gather at the Adams Mark Hotel without the benefit of Bob's infectious enthusiasm, careful attention to scientific and organizational detail, and cheerful conviviality. In recognition of Bob's lasting contributions to the Section, and his status as the founder and guiding light of these important meetings, the Foundation has renamed the series the Bob F. Perkins Research Conferences.

Noel Tyler
R. P. Major

Cochairmen, Program Advisory Committee

Below is the table of contents for the abstracts presented at the 19^th Annual Bob F. Perkins Research Conference. Click on the abstract title to view the abstract.

Analysis of Gravity-Flow Depositional Systems from 3-D Seismic Data: Neogene Deposits of the Niger Delta Slope, J.M. Armentrout et al.

The Homogeneity and Large Lateral Extent of Fluvial Sand Reservoirs Produced During the Falling-Stage Systems Tract: An Example from the East China Sea Continental Margin, L.R. Bartek III and R. Wellmer

Potential Pressure Compartments Sub-Salt in the Gulf of Mexico and Beneath Massive Debris Flows in the Gulf of Cadiz, A. Lowrie et al.

Prediction of the Nature of Reservoir Heterogeneity of an Incised-Valley Fill and the Minimum Data Density Required to Characterize it: An Example from the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico, J.L. Lucas and L.R. Bartek III

Deep-Water Processes and Facies Models: A Paradigm Shift for the 21st Century, G. Shanmugam

Uppermost Pleistocene Transgressive Coralgal Reefs on the Edge of the South Texas Shelf: Analogs for Reefal Reservoirs Buried in Siliciclastic Shelves, A.V. Belopolsky and A.W. Droxler

Stratigraphic Trap Potential on the Margins of Confined Turbidite Systems: Optimized Well Placement and Process Controls on Trap vs. Leak, W.D. McCaffrey and B.C. Kneller

Outcrop Analysis of a Sand-Rich, Basin-Floor Turbidite System, Permian Bell Canyon Formation, West Texas, M.D. Barton and S.P. Dutton

Application of Outcrop Analogs to Reservoir Characterization of Permian Deep-Water Sandstones, Bell Canyon Formation, Ford Geraldine Unit, West Texas (Delaware Basin), S.P. Dutton and M.D. Barton

Behind-Outcrop Borehole Imaging for Improved Characterization of Turbidite Reservoirs, R.M. Slatt et al.

3-D Ground-Penetrating Radar Imaging of Turbidite Outcrop Analogs, R.A. Young et al.

Outcrop Studies of Lower Cretaceous Tidal Sandstone Bodies for Reservoir Characterization of the Tilje Formation (Lower Jurassic), Offshore Mid-Norway, S. Yoshida et al.