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Reservoir rock typing and zonation in sequence stratigraphic framework of the Cretaceous Dariyan Formation, Persian Gulf

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Abstract

This study delineates reservoir and non-reservoir zones in the Lower Cretaceous Dariyan Formation as units that are characteristic of the stratigraphic section representative of portions of the Persian Gulf offshore area. Reservoir rock types are categorized by textural and diagenetic properties. Static flow zones were delineated by porosity and permeability measurements of cored intervals. Electrofacies were prepared from clusters of petrophysical data to define reservoir zones for areas lacking wells with cored intervals. The attributes of these reservoirs are integrated into a sequence stratigraphic framework. This research indicates that rock types and reservoir zones of the Dariyan Formation differ in the studied fields located to the west and to the east in the Persian Gulf. These differences are interpreted to have resulted from a differing tectono-stratigraphic framework that controlled depositional facies and subsequent diagenesis. For example, reservoirs associated with the lower and upper carbonate units of the Dariyan Formation have different lithofacies and diagenetic modifications that resulted from deposition at two intrashelf basins at areas to the northwest and to the southeast in the Persian Gulf, and subsequent exposure to meteoric water flows during subaerial exposure.

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Fig. 1

Modified from Al-Husseini (2007)

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Acknowledgements

The authors express appreciation to the Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) and Abdal Industrial Projects Management Company for the access to the well and reservoir data for the three Persian Gulf fields. Behrooz Esrafili-Dizaji and Morteza Ansari contributed to sedimentological studies of the study area fields. The editor and anonymous reviewers are acknowledged for their guidance and commentaries, resulting in a greatly improved manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hamzeh Mehrabi.

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Mehrabi, H., Ranjbar-Karami, R. & Roshani-Nejad, M. Reservoir rock typing and zonation in sequence stratigraphic framework of the Cretaceous Dariyan Formation, Persian Gulf. Carbonates Evaporites 34, 1833–1853 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13146-019-00530-2

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