Carrier-bed plays are a new type of unconventional oil play that are currently being developed in North America. The reservoirs are generally low quality because of any of the following: thin beds (heterolithic strata), diagenesis, or burrowing (heterogeneous, mixing of sandstones or carbonates and mudstones). The carrier beds are pervasively hydrocarbon saturated and can occur over an areally extensive (>50 mi2 [>129 km2]) area. These low-quality reservoirs generally do not meet traditional petrophysical cutoffs, and because of the clay content, they can create low-resistivity, low-contrast pays. The reservoirs may be composed of clastics or carbonates or a mixture of both. A subcategory of a carrier-bed play is a halo play. Halo plays are the low-permeability flanking edges of a conventional oil accumulation (i.e., waste zone or the fringe). The low reservoir quality is generally stratigraphic in origin (facies change from high-quality to low-quality reservoirs). Carrier-bed and halo plays are being developed with horizontal drilling and multistage hydraulic fracturing. Traditional vertical drilling yields marginal to uneconomic wells but provide a clue to the existence of a carrier-bed play.This paper reviews Upper Cretaceous carrier-bed plays in the Denver (Codell Sandstone Member of the Carlile Shale) and Powder River (Turner Sandy Member of the Carlile Shale) Basins.

中文翻译：

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丹佛和粉河盆地的运载床

运载床远景区是目前北美正在开发的一种新型非常规石油远景区。由于以下任一原因，储层通常质量较差：薄层（异质岩层）、成岩作用或挖洞（非均质、砂岩或碳酸盐岩和泥岩的混合）。运载床普遍被烃饱和，并且可以出现在大面积（> 50 平方英里 [> 129 平方公里]）的区域。这些低质量储层通常不符合传统的岩石物理边界，并且由于粘土含量，它们可以产生低电阻率、低对比度的油层。储层可能由碎屑或碳酸盐或两者的混合物组成。承载床游戏的一个子类别是光环游戏。晕带是常规油藏的低渗透性侧翼边缘（即，废物区或边缘）。低质储层一般为地层成因（相由优质储层向低质储层转变）。正在通过水平钻井和多级水力压裂开发载体层和晕层。传统的垂直钻井产量对于不经济井来说是微不足道的，但提供了存在载体床层的线索。 本文回顾了丹佛（卡莱尔页岩的科德尔砂岩段）和粉河（特纳桑迪段）的上白垩统载体层段卡莱尔页岩）盆地。