CREATING AN INITIAL EXPLORATION FRAMEWORK FOR THE BEREA SANDSTONE IN THE APPALACHIAN BASIN

Recent horizontal drilling of the Upper Devonian Berea Sandstone in northeastern Kentucky has resulted in economic production that has rejuvenated interest in the interval in other parts of the Appalachian basin. Geological evidence exists to support the northern extension of the play into southeastern Ohio. The Berea Sandstone consists of siliciclastic deposits including progradational deltaic environments in central West Virginia, storm-influenced shelf deposits in western West Virginia and southeastern Ohio, and outer shelf/slope facies in northeastern Kentucky. While the Berea interval has produced hydrocarbons for over a century, our current study presents a new evaluation of its hydrocarbon potential for wells utilizing recent horizontal drilling and completion technologies. Our investigation has been accomplished by analyzing digital gamma-ray signatures from over 400 well logs in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. Structure mapping on the top of the Berea Sandstone (C.I. 100 ft.) along with historical oil and gas production was used to constrain potential thermal maturity patterns and infer hydrocarbon migration pathways. Peak oil thermal maturity was determined to be between 0 and -1200 feet (ASL) and can be observed throughout the study area. Further, sandstone thickness, porosity, porosity thickness, and water saturation were assessed for two known Berea horizontal oil fields in northeastern Kentucky and compared to a vertical Berea oil eld in Ohio showing that thickness and porosity trends continue into southeastern Ohio. Collectively, our preliminary results suggest that the extent of economical oil production from horizontal Berea wells may extend north of the Ohio River into southeastern Ohio.