Geophysical Characterization of a Carbonate Platform Reservoir Based on Outcrop Analogue Study (Onshore, Lebanon)

Abstract

Summary The prediction of reservoir properties in frontier basins is a key challenge. To address this issue, we study the Levant basin, especially offshore Lebanon, applying an integrated workflow based on sedimentology, geophysics and petrophysics on outcrop analogues present onshore Lebanon. This will provide calibration for constraining reservoir properties on onshore seismic data and eventually extrapolate the workflow to the offshore equivalent. One onshore seismic line passes in Batroun, northern Lebanon where we investigate the Cretaceous Cenomanian-Turonian carbonate platform, in particular the rudist platforms represented by bioclastic rudist-rich rudstone developing in shallow carbonate platform deposits. A thorough sedimentary description was completed for a 400 m thick sedimentary succession and samples were taken to investigate the petrophysical properties of different facies. In addition, acoustic measurements (P-wave velocity) were acquired directly on the outcrop using Pundit PL-200. The variation of P-wave velocity for the strata between Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous allows the calibration of the petro-acoustic signature of the stratigraphic sequences. The onshore seismic profile was also interpreted using Petrel to identify reflectors, seismic horizons and seismic facies. Moreover, a synthetic seismogram is generated to correlate the acoustic data with the seismic data and deduce the seismic signal for different facies.