Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

The purpose of this proposed research is to describe and interpret the origin of thinly bedded sandstones and mudstones formed in shallow-marine prodelta, shelf and offshore environments to develop quantitative analysis of the various formative processes. The novel research on developing improved depositional models for shales will help with ongoing exploration and acquisition evaluation by BP for unconventional opportunities in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. Our approach is innovative in that we measure mudstone sections at a centimeter-level of precision and in much greater detail than most previous studies, thus allowing us to characterize the processes of each event bed within a complete prodeltaic and shelf facies succession. We are seeking funding to examine in detail, the shales of the Mancos Formation, including the Juana Lopez Member. The data include outcrops that are extensively exposed in the deserts of the SW USA, and allow us to document vertical and lateral changes in these muddy facies at a level of detail not possible using subsurface data alone nor using outcrops in Canada, which are typically far less well exposed. Our proposed study provides an outcrop analog for prospective shale and halo plays important to BP Canada, including the Colorado-Alberto Group Shales in the Western Canada basin (Leckie et al., 1994) where lateral variability, connectivity, and reservoir characteristics are less well understood. We will also supplement our outcrop study with about 1000m of core data available from the New Mexico State Survey in Socorro that will allow us to investigate the chemostratigraphy. Our proposed work compliments BP assets, which include a large number of shallow marine, paralic, and fluvial reservoirs, such as the oil sands in Canada, and the paralic reservoirs in eastern Canada. The proposed research in these areas will be of continued value in better reservoir management of producing fields operated and owned by BP.