Fluvial architecture of the Burro Canyon Formation using unmanned aerial vehicle-based photogrammetry and outcrop-based modeling: Implications for reservoir performance, Escalante Canyon, southwestern Piceance Basin, Colorado

Abstract

The Cretaceous Burro Canyon Formation in the southern Piceance Basin, Colorado, represents low sinuosity to sinuous braided fluvial deposits that consist of amalgamated channel complexes, amalgamated and isolated fluvial-bar channel fills, and floodplain deposits. Lithofacies primarily include granule-cobble conglomerates, conglomeratic sandstones, cross-stratified sandstones, upward-fining sandstones, and gray-green mudstones. To assess the effects of variable sandstone-body geometry and internal lithofacies and petrophysical heterogeneity on reservoir performance, conventional field methods are combined with unmanned aerial vehicle-based photogrammetry to create representative outcrop-based reservoir models. Outcrop reservoir models and fluid-flow simulations compare three reservoir scenarios of the Burro Canyon Formation based on stratigraphic variability, sandstone-body geometry, and lithofacies heterogeneity. Simulation results indicate that lithofacies variability can account for an almost 50% variation in breakthrough time (BTT). Internal channel-bounding surfaces reduce the BTT by 2%, volumetric sweep efficiency by 8%, and recovery efficiency by 10%. Three lateral grid resolutions and two permeability-upscaling methods for each reservoir scenario are explored in fluid-flow simulations to investigate how upscaling impacts reservoir performance. Our results indicate that coarsely resolved grids experience delayed breakthrough by as much as 40% and greater volumetric sweep efficiency by an average of 10%. Permeability models that are upscaled using a geometric mean preserve slightly higher values than those using a harmonic mean. For upscaling based on a geometric mean, BTTs are delayed by an average of 17% and the volumetric sweep efficiency is reduced by as much as 10%. Results of the study highlight the importance of properly incorporating stratigraphic details into 3D reservoir models and preserving those details through proper upscaling methods.