Introduction
The Lake Campo Field Prospect is an amplitude supported, 3-D development project located 23 miles Southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana in the shallow inland waters of Plaquemines Parish. This 10,100’ normal pressured Middle Miocene (Tex-W) age test involves further development of Lake Campo Field which has to date produced 25 BCFE. The 3-D seismic indicates the top of this productive structure has not been tested in ten sands between 8400’ and 9800’. Three of these sands are established producers with water drive support and can be considered low risk objectives. Three of the remaining six objectives have associated amplitude anomalies.
Geological Discussion
Lake Campo Field was discovered in 1959. The field was developed throughout the early 1960’s by Gulf Oil Corporation and Shell Oil Company. To date no 3-D seismic based wells have been drilled in the field. Yuma’s interpretation of the seismic data clearly identifies the top of the productive Lake Campo Structure as being un-tested in the nine sands between 8600’ and 9700’. Because three of the objective sands (K-4 Sand, K-5 Sand, K-6 Sand) in this interval have already produced gas they are considered the lowest risk objectives. There is approximately 40’ of structural advantage and 100 acres of area up-dip to the wells in Lake Campo Field which produced in these three intervals. Since the wells are clearly water-drive, every foot of structural advantage achieved up-dip to the productive interval should result in un-drained gas accumulation. Sand thicknesses for these objectives are 5’ for the K-4 which produced 2 BCF from the field, 45’ for the K-5 which produced 22BCF from the field, and 40’-70’ for the K-6 which produced 1.2 BCF from the field.
The three amplitude supported objectives are the J Sand, the K-1 Sand and the K-2 Sand. The anomaly which ties the 40’ thick J Sand at 8400’ is a high amplitude through-peak event similar to other established sands within the 3-D survey. The K-1 anomaly at 8600’ is of outstanding quality, being the hottest at the top of the structure and fitting the structure very well. This 70’ thick sand has an exceptionally high amplitude event and displays a good AVO, strongly suggesting the presence of gas. The 10’-20’ thick K-2 Sand at 8800’ has a quality amplitude anomaly which is similar to other gas sands across the area and it fits the top of the Lake Campo Field structure fairly well. While the primary risk reduction of these three sands is the associated amplitude anomalies, it should be noted that the structural closure at these levels 40’ to 50’ up-dip of the current well penetrations provides additional risk reduction.
The four remaining objectives, the K Sand at 8500’, the K-3 Sand at 8900’ and the K-7 Sand at 9570’ and the K-8 Sand at 9700’ have no established production history in the field and no associated amplitude anomalies. Regardless, they are quality objectives since they are regionally consistent sands which have not been tested on top of the Lake Campo Field structure. The lack of amplitude in these sands is not necessarily an indication that there is no gas present since many pay sands in the area bear no hydrocarbon signature (i.e. the K-4, K-5, and K-6 in Lake Campo Field).
The structural configuration of the Lake Campo Field Prospect is a three-way closure up-thrown on a large (400’-800’) down-to-the-south fault. The structural high migrates to the south with the fault with depth. Because of this structural migration, a directional well will be drilled to test this prospect at an optimum position for each of the prospective sands. The abundant sub-surface control combined with the quality 3-D seismic data clearly defines this structural and the critical location of the trapping fault.
The depositional environment of the ten objective sands is deltaic. While these sands do show some variation in thickness and overall quality from borehole to borehole, it is generally correct that these sands are regionally consistent blanket sands. The K Sand, K-1 Sand, K-4 Sand, K-5 Sand and K-6 Sand show the least variation from well to well. Porosity and permeability are excellent in these Miocene sands, with all objectives having high quality reservoir rock.
Conclusion
The Lake Campo Field prospect is an opportunity to use recent 3-D seismic technology to further develop a water drive gas field developed in the early 1960’s that has to date produced 25 BCFE. This low risk prospect targets ten high quality, regionally consistent Miocene age sand objectives of which three are attic gas objectives, three are amplitude anomaly objectives, and four are structural objectives. The abundant well control provides the positive sand story and it combined with the 3-D seismic clearly defines the structural picture and the location of the critical trapping fault.
(**) detailed analysis performed and provided by Yuma Exploration and Production Company, Inc.
