The Petro Ninja – Enlighten Geoscience Well of the Week for October 6, 2022 will give you something to digest over the Thanksgiving weekend. The Western Canada Sedimentary Basin has often been treated like a minor character in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Contrary to some opinions, it is not dead yet.
The Leduc – Woodbend Rex play is an example of the potential rewards of identifying and pursuing by-passed pay. I specifically refer to 102/03-22-048-26W4/00. Applying modern stratigraphic techniques to ancient well logs allowed for the identification of a significant by-passed oil play.
This style of exploration based on geological prospecting might not be au courant but there is a significant resource waiting to be discovered in this fashion. A presentation on this play was included in the AAPG ACE 2018 conference highlighting the most significant recent onshore discoveries in North America. Time to find a good petrophysicist to help come to grips with those old well logs.
Reference
Case Study of a Large Conventional Oil Pool Discovery in a Mature Basin. Discovery Thinking Forum, Pinckston, R., 2018. AAPG ACE 2018 Salt Lake City