2.1 Study Area
It is approximately 350 km southeast of Baghdad (the capital of Iraq) and around 175 km north of Basrah, southern Iraq. It covers a total area of 106.8 km2 and is located onshore in Iraq, with accurate coordinates at around (32°.365"N) latitude and (47.306"E) longitude; the AG oilfield is composed of two domes: a saddle area between the northern and southern domes (Fig. 1) (CNOOC 2015a). The Stratigraphic section of the strata drilled in Missan oilfields from top to bottom are Neogene Bakhtiary, Paleogene X carbonate, Cretaceous Mishrif, and Shuaiba, and the X carbonate group has three lithological successions from top to bottom, namely dolomite, limestone and sandstone/shale (Fig. 2) (Al-Mamouri et al. 2022). The part of the Kirkuk embayment region on the unstable Arabian plate shelf is identified as the AG oilfield. The Arabian-Iranian plate collision made this region especially active, leading to the complex structure of the AG field (Al-Mamouri et al. 2022). The southern edge of the Zagros foreland basin is the site of the Zagros fold belt, representing the regional tectonic setting. The AG oilfield developed through the Zagros orogeny, caused by a collision of the Eurasian plates and African-Arabian in the Late Cretaceous-Early Miocene. Compressive anticline structures with an NW-SE trending long axis were created (Du et al. 2021; Dong et al. 2022a) as a result of NE-SW trending horizontal compressional stress (Xiaole et al. 2013; Jalili et al. 2020; Karami et al. 2020), and fractures and faults were well developed in this region.
The X carbonate reservoir has 2900-3200m depth; it is divided from top to bottom into A, B, and C zones based on the electrical characteristics of the wireline logs and lithological, formation thickness, marker horizons, reservoir improvement, and oil/water contact. The A and B members are the primary pay zones. The zone B has an average thickness of approximately 120m and is divided into B1, B2, B3, and B4. Zone A is divided into A1, A2, and A3 and has excellent reservoir quality, with an average thickness of around 70m and well-developed fractures (Tong et al. 2023). They are defined as low-medium and medium-high porosity-permeability reservoirs, respectively (Sun et al. 2020). Secondary porosity created by dissolution is popular in the reservoir unit, including moldic pores, intergranular burrows and pores, which form fracture-pore reservoirs. Pre-geological studies on the AG structure indicate that two different kinds of forces resulted from the folding movement, which caused tangential deformation as a longitudinal shape. The first kind focused tension forces on the upper part of the structure, while the second indicated compression forces on the lower portions of the structure (Al-Mamouri et al. 2022). The anticline axis displayed little intensity, and the limbs were affected by high deformation (Al-Saad 2010).
2.2 Data and techniques used
Data used in this study include core sample descriptions of old wells distributed through the oilfield, conventional well logs data, water breakthrough analysis data, thin sections of AGCS-24, and the locations of fractures labeled on the wells and well test data. The study also mentions using dip logging for the areal distribution of fractures. For the geological analysis of the water breakthrough, the study considered the time for the water breakthrough, the location and perforation of each well, and the shale thickness between members B and C.
2.3 Fractures Analysis
Fractures significantly influence the production and water breakthrough of the X carbonate group in the AG oilfield. There are two typical examples, AG-7A and AG-16 (Fig. 3). The perforation section at AG-7A is in the thin oil zone of member A, but it has stable production of about 5000 bbl/d for many years, and fractures also caused the water breakthrough on AG-7. For AG-16, the perforation section is 9m, and the producing oil thickness is 1.9m. It has also had stable production of nearly 3000 bbl/d for many years (CNOOC 2015a). The fractures developed highly in these two wells, as seen from cores and well tests. The fractures may enhance the productivity of these wells. So, based on this phenomenon, we researched fractures to determine the distribution and development degree of fractures in the AG oilfield (CNOOC 2015a).
Core sample observation, thin sections, ERMI, and well-test interpretation can identify fractures. Fracture geometry parameters have been described according to the fracture description of the cores of 10 old wells and thin sections of AGCS-24 integrated with well logs. Then, the locations of the fractures were labeled on the wells (Fig. 4). Based on the statistics of the rock types with fractures and fracture types, and combined with the fracture density distribution, the vertical distribution law of fracture was summarized. The areal distribution of fractures was obtained based on the genesis mechanism of fractures in the AG oilfield and the fracture density distribution. As of November 31st, 2014, 32 wells in the AG oilfield, 12 wells with cores, and all of these wells developed fractures.
The development of fractures, which locally increase reservoir permeability, often determines the characteristics of high-production wells (Zeng et al. 2022). Based on data obtained from core characteristics testing and well logging estimation, fractures have the potential to improve reservoir permeability, well productivity, and reservoir heterogeneity. However, they may also increase unwanted water production, which would complicate reservoir management and greatly affect the water breakthroughs of oil wells.
2.4 Reservoir Properties Analysis
The distribution principles of the reservoir were finally summarized by analyzing formation characteristics, sedimentary characteristics, reservoir space types, reservoir physical characteristics, and reservoir heterogeneity.
2.5 Geological Analysis on Water Breakthrough Patterns
Through the development of the AG oilfield, the water cut rate is increasing, and most wells are water breakthroughs. As of November 30th, 2014, the composite water cut of the AG oilfield is 16.0% (CNOOC 2015a). Detecting the geological reason for the water breakthrough is a pressing matter for the AG oilfield. A detailed analysis of reservoir properties, connectivity, and fracture distribution, related to the dynamic analysis of production wells, was conducted to ensure the geological reason for water breakthrough in the AG oilfield. Additionally, the time for water breakthrough and the location and perforation of every well were also considered in the water breakthrough analysis process.