Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

We address two themes identified by the petroleum industry and the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB) as required to fully complete the recent Play Fairway Analysis of the Scotian Basin. (1) Magnitude, timing and dispersal of reservoir sands in the Shelburne sub-basin; and (2) controls on and maps of reservoir quality. Our research capability in detrital and diagenetic petrology of petroleum systems is internationally known. Petrography of well samples from the SW Scotian Shelf and the COST wells will establish changes in supply, interpreted in the frame of regional tectonics and integrated with CNSOPB and NSDoE seismic interpretation. Our previous work on diagenetic processes will be applied to predictive mapping of reservoir quality, using closely spaced wells to evaluate lateral continuity of diagenesis, statistical analysis of petrographic features controlling porosity and permeability, linkage of carbonate cement formation to existing fluid inclusion data, and determining diagenetic processes in Jurassic strata. Outcomes are improved assessment of exploration risk in the SW Scotian Basin and the risk of poor reservoir quality throughout the Scotian Basin. Scientific benefits are greater understanding of diagenetic processes applicable to other clastic basins.