Hydrodynamics and petroleum migration in the Upper Ordovician Red River Formation of the Williston Basin

Abstract

Simulations of petroleum migration within the Red River petroleum system of the Williston Basin show that petroleum generation and secondary migration preceded the onset of an active hydrodynamic regime that persists to the present day. Furthermore: (1) a better understanding of the eastern limit of the mature source rock area, which is largely facies controlled, is required to reduce exploration risk east of the Nesson Anticline, (2) the Red River play types that have been prosperous in southeastern Saskatchewan should extend considerable distances to the north, as well as throughout central Saskatchewan and western Manitoba, Canada, and (3) accumulations that may have developed in the southwest of the basin have likely been flushed and redistributed subsequent to the onset of hydrodynamics.