Application of Results from Outcrops of the Deep-marine Brushy Canyon Formation, Delaware Basin, as Analogues for the Deep-marine Exploration Targets on the Norwegian Shelf

Blikeng, Bente and Edith Fugelli, Statoil A/S

Abstract

The keys to exploration success are to be able to see different possibilities and to improve the ability to predict. Analogue studies highlight the importance of visualizing geology as seen in outcrop when interpreting subsurface seismic and well data. Outcrops of the deep-marine Brushy Canyon Formation, Delaware Basin, West Texas, have proved useful as analogues to the deepmarine exploration targets on the Norwegian shelf.

The Permian Brushy Canyon Formation consists of submarine canyon fill, slope and basin floor deposits. The siltstone-rich slope is dominated by bypass, slope-adjustments, and degradational processes. Through time, slump scars coalesc e and confine, direct, and bypass sediments basinward. The sand-rich basin floor is dominated by constructional processes, resulting in complex stacking of sediment bodies and compensation cycles.

Slope and basin floor settings are also observed both in the Tertiary and Cretaceous deepwater depositional systems on the Norwegian shelf. The settings and scale of the depositional systems, the distribution of sands, and the geomet ries of the sand bodies are comparable to the Delaware Basin. Slump scar confined channel complexes at the slope, multistory channel complexes on the basin floor, and distal pinchout prospects can be defined and directly correlated to field observations.

By integrating field observations with subsurface data, regional 3D seismic interpretation, high quality well data, and geophysical modelling, the projects have resulted in more reliable interpretations, enhanced prediction of sedime nt pathways and sand distribution, and finally to development of new prospects on the Norwegian shelf.