THE ARCHITECTURE AND STRATIGRAPHIC VARIABILITY OF AN UNCONVENTIONAL RESOURCE PLAY: SCREENING THE JURASSIC HANIFA INTERVAL IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Callovian–Kimmeridgian organic carbon-rich carbonates (Hanifa Formation and equivalents) are world-class source rocks that have generated substantial volumes of hydrocarbons and charged prolific conventional reservoirs across the Middle East. However, there is also potential for a vast unconventional resource play within this stratigraphic interval which remains untapped.

Gross depositional environment maps, underpinned by extensive regional datasets and tied to a precise sequence stratigraphic framework, can be used within an unconventional screening workflow to rapidly assess the most prospective areas within the widespread Jurassic depocentres. This workflow uses a diverse proprietary dataset to access depositional facies, lithology, organic carbon content, maturity, thickness, and depth within the unconventional resource play.

Completion quality and producibility within unconventional reservoirs is intrinsically linked to the geomechanical properties of the target interval. Stratigraphic datasets are integral in terms of characterization of architecture and variability within the depositional system, which, in turn, facilitates an understanding of mechanical stratigraphy. The dataset demonstrates that geomechanical ”sweet-spots” within the Hanifa Interval are likely to occur in areas with high frequency, cyclical intercalation of organic carbon-rich units, and brittle fractured target horizons. Ultimately, this understanding can be used to formulate an unconventional exploration model that can predict such sweet-spots on a regional scale.

The screening and high-grading workflows identify highly prospective areas across the Middle East, including the Jafurah Basin in Saudi Arabia and the southern Gotnia Basin in Kuwait, where there is ongoing appraisal of the unconventional resource play.