Braided fluvial reservoirs can host significant volumes of hydro-carbons, being high net/gross ratio, and are often considered to be relatively easy to characterize. But this is not always the case, as confirmed in a recent study conducted by Houston-based reservoir services company Geotrace Technologies Inc. The Misoa Sandstone reservoir in Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo Basin shows consistent permeability distributions and can be easily correlated using logging interpretation. However, a dry hole drilled a little more than 300 ft (100 m) away from a known producer within the Misoa Formation could not be correlated with an adjacent well. A solution using seismic interpretation technology and an enhanced imaging process identified the source of the discontinuity and helped Geotrace optimize its client’s drilling program.

Janice Liwanag, Geomodeling Technology Corp.

Published in E&P January 2006

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