Reservoir potential in the Klappmyss Formation, Barents Sea

Abstract

By May 2012 there are a total of 91 exploration and appraisal wells in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea, and more than 300 000 km of seismic reflection data. Moreover, estimation from Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) favours Barents Sea as the area with the highest potential for finding hydrocarbons (in Norway) in their resource calculation from 2011. Both oil and gas have been discovered in the South Barents basin and findings in well 7220/8-1 (Skrugard), and 7225/3-1 ( Norvarg) have contributed to new optimism in the Barents Sea (www.npd.no), resulting in increased interest from numerous companies. Most reserves are contained in Jurassic clastic reservoirs (eg. Shtokman), but recent drilling has verified effective reservoirs in the Triassic succession. The discovery of Triassic source and reservoir potentials have created increased interest for this interval. Goliat oil field (figure 1) will for instance start producing from Triassic reservoirs in 2013. However, the Triassic remains a secondary target and the number of wells drilled through Triassic is still limited. Recent work in the western Barents Sea focussed on regional 2D lines where Triassic seismic sequence stratigraphy and paleogeography were interpreted (Glørstad-Clark et al., 2010). Further platform-margin deltas were interpreted based on mapping of clinoform geometries, clinoform angles and trajectories (Glørstad- Clark et al., 2011). This study has a similar approach; however, the main attention is on a smaller 3D area (figure 1) covering one of these platform margin deltas, and only Early Triassic Klappmyss Formation is considered. The main purpose is the petroleum significance in this area and to understand reservoir potential in the Klappmyss Formation in the Samson Dome area (figure 1), Barents Sea. This formation has had less focus regarding exploration potential and has been the primary objective in only one well (7228/9-1S). By performing seismic stratigraphy and analyzing the clinoform configuration, facies distribution can be predicted, and thus reservoir properties in the Klappmyss Fm. These results might serve as a base for further exploration in Early Triassic.