Permian Basin Wolfcampian and Leonardian Basin Boundary Well Performance

Continued development of the unconventional reservoirs of the Permian Basin has increased interest in shelf-to-basin geological models of the Wolfcampian and Leonardian. These geomodels can provide insight into well performance. Our analysis of the relationship between geological, petrophysical, and production parameters focuses on the Delaware Basin and the Midland Basin shelf-to-basin regions. We investigated the wells in our focus areas using an interdisciplinary process combining a high-resolution three-dimensional, faulted geological model covering the Delaware Basin, Central Basin platform, and Midland Basin regions with production data from more than 30,000 horizontal wells for the Wolfcampian and Leonardian unconventional plays. The model is delineated by approximately 100 formations, which are further subdivided into layers, resulting in a 2.4 billion cell 3D geocellular model. Five field- to regional-size 3D seismic surveys and 25 2D seismic lines were interpreted to validate the stratigraphic interpretations from over 14,000 correlation wells in the study areas. The petrophysical distributions were obtained from over 10,000 vertical wells with quad combos. This study improved our understanding of the relationship between well performance and the shelf-to-basin geological models in the basin boundary areas of the Permian Basin. The integrated model enabled us to interpret and characterize examples including carbonate fan systems in the Wolfcampian and linear channel systems in the Leonardian intervals. Analysis of the modeled connectivity and continuity of the 3D facies architecture established the complex relationship between the geological and production trends (mediated by completions) of the shelf-to-basin regions. We also determined that large, regional faults can locally increase productivity. The model resulting from this cross-discipline study facilitates an improved understanding of the shelf-to-basin stratigraphic framework and reservoir setting for the Wolfcampian and Leonardian strata of the basin boundary focus areas of the Permian Basin. Combining outcrop interpretations, petrophysical well log calculations, seismic interpretations, completion information, and production data analytics enables us to build a geological framework that can be integrated with engineering analysis models.