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Reservoir rock typing of the Asmari Formation using integrating geological and petrophysical data for unraveling the reservoir heterogeneity: a case study from the Ramshir oilfield, southwest Iran

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Abstract

The Asmari Formation with Oligo-Miocene in age and a carbonate-siliciclastic lithology is considered as one of the main hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Zagros Basin of Iran. In this research, with the target of unraveling the reservoir heterogeneity, a comprehensive rock typing was performed using all available geological and petrophysical data. The procedure for reservoir rock typing was started with the identifying of sedimentary rock types derived from the description of cored intervals and the study of thin sections from 7 cored wells. These studies led to the identifying and classification of 12 sedimentary facies related to the inner, middle, and outer parts of a carbonate ramp platform. The statistical clustering algorithms were applied using Multi-Resolution Graph-based Clustering approach on well log data, resulting in the recognition of five electrofacies (EFs). Accordingly, five hydraulic flow units (HFUs), based on the flow zone indicator method were defined in the reservoir interval. A compatible relationship between EFs and HFUs demonstrates that changes in petrophysical attributes are mainly controlled by diagenetic features. By examining special core analysis data, appropriate capillary pressure curves were correlated with the identified reservoir rock types. The methodology used in this study shows the reservoir heterogeneity in addition to primary depositional texture is controlled by the effect of diagenetic processes such as compaction, cementation, dissolution, dolomitization, and fracturing. Dolomitization, dissolution, and fracturing are the main diagenetic processes, showing significant effect on increasing and improving the reservoir quality. According to the results, among different reservoir zones of the Asmari, zones 1, 2, 3, and 4 are considered as the most favorable zones from the reservoir quality and production point of view in the studied field.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express appreciation to the Geology Department and Vice President for Research & Technology of the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad for their support (Grant no. 3/38105). In addition, the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) (Grant numbere: 1171-95) for providing the data and permission to publish the results of this research. We wish to thank Dr. Rahim kadkhodaie for his constructive criticism and comments. Our great thanks to the editor and anonymous reviewers for their guidance and precise comments that improved the quality of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

    Rahmat Sadeghi, Reza Moussavi-Harami & Asadollah Mahboubi

  2. Earth Science Department Faculty of Natural Science, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

    Ali kadkhodaie

  3. Geophysics Department, National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC), Ahvaz, Iran

    Ahmad Ashtari

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  1. Rahmat Sadeghi
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Correspondence to Reza Moussavi-Harami.

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Sadeghi, R., Moussavi-Harami, R., kadkhodaie, A. et al. Reservoir rock typing of the Asmari Formation using integrating geological and petrophysical data for unraveling the reservoir heterogeneity: a case study from the Ramshir oilfield, southwest Iran. Carbonates Evaporites 36, 60 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13146-021-00692-y

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