Impact of structural setting on hydrocarbon trapping mechanism of onshore Niger Delta basin, Nigeria, using seismic attribute analysis

Abstract

The evaluation of hydrocarbon trapping system in an onshore Niger Delta basin, Nigeria was studied using well log and seismic data. This is very important in estimation of production cost and assessment of viable reservoir units in petroleum industry. It is the main aim in reservoir characterization, in order to estimate the geometry and trapping mechanism of any particular field under investigation. These were achieved through the integration of 3D seismic and well log data that was acquired from an Onshore Niger Delta basin, Nigeria. From the well logs, three reservoir units was identified namely RS1, RS2, RS3 and these were mapped based on the curve signatures of the geophysical logs. These identified hydrocarbon bearing intervals were mapped on the seismic section using checkshot dataset for time to depth conversion. Four horizons and a total of thirteen fault traces were mapped within the region, with two characterized building structural faults of F2 and F3 features. Fault F4 and F7 are antithetic fault that trends north east to south west and the trapping mechanisms for the region are both a four way closure and fault assisted closure, as the trap is an up dip fault closure against the up thrown side of fault F8. Amplitude, variance and coherence attributes shows the faulting structure of hydrocarbon migration channels and path ways, through which hydrocarbon migration and accumulation occurs within the region. A significant level of contribution was achieved with the variance attributes showing a better resolution of an instant fault detection or identification compared to other attributes studied within the field of interest. The identified hydrocarbon bearing units lies within the same depth across the entire wells. This proved that the region has exhibits little or no tectonic deformation. The presence of structural features such as antithetic and synthetic is responsible for the hydrocarbon entrapment within the region. A detailed analysis of the study location revealed highly faulted region that exhibits a typical Niger Delta tectonic settings.