Ricardo Andrés Gómez-Moncada

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Implications of Groundwater Flow on Preservation of Heavy and Extra-Heavy Oil Accumulations in Southern Llanos Basin, Colombia

SSRN Electronic Journal (2022)

Ricardo Andrés Gómez-Moncada Andrés Mora Marcela Jaramillo Maurício Parra Ándrés García Martínez

The southern sector of the Llanos Basin in Colombia has been identified as a basin where the hydrodynamic flow has influenced the potential of hydrocarbon storage and production. In this area the hydrodynamic flow coincides with a province of heavy and extra-heavy crude oils, which has hypothesized for this area, a critical condition that decreases the potential for hydrocarbon retention by the effect of hydrodynamic flow and the geochemical nature of the fluids. This work provide a comprehensive view to describe the impact of regional hydrodynamic flow on retention of the heavy oil accumulations present in the reservoirs that are part of the most important regional flow unit identified in the Southern Llanos Basin. The Basal Flow Unit (BFU) constitutes a basin-scale flow unit that hydraulically and laterally connects rocks from the Cretaceous (west) to the Oligocene (east) and extends from the basin's southwestern margin up to hundreds of kilometers within the Llanos foreland basin, and whose main water recharge zone has been identified towards the eastern flank of the Serranía de la Macarena. To understand the impact of the physicochemical properties of the fluids, we analyze the relationship between hydraulic data and the main characteristics of the fluids present in the BFU, and their spatial distribution on the present-day configuration of this flow unit. This analysis integrated information from hydraulic heads, SARA analysis (Saturates, Aromatics, Resins, and Asphaltenes), Whole Oil Gas Chromatography analysis, API-gravity, and oil densities. In addition, hydrochemical analysis of the primary ions was performed in groundwater samples from the BFU, which was integrated with deep resistivity data measured in producing and exploratory oil wells in the area. The results allowed identifying the southwestern corner of the southern Llanos Basin as the area with the highest hydrodynamic flow impact, and therefore, the area with the least potential for hydrocarbon retention, attributing as the main causes: 1) the proximity to recharge areas, and 2) the low contrast of fluids densities (freshwaters and highly biodegraded heavy crude oils), implying high Tilt Amplification Factor (TAF) values. Furthermore, gradual changes in resistivities and ions concentration in groundwaters suggest the eastern flank of the Serranía de la Macarena as the main recharge zone of meteoric waters into the BFU. Finally, numerical simulation techniques were used to analyze the behavior of hydrocarbon drainage under hydrodynamic conditions, obtaining a first approximation to the average linear groundwater flow velocities between 10 -3 and 10 -4 ft/day.

10.2139/ssrn.4084411

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Decoding of Groundwater Recharge in Deep Aquifers of Foreland Basins Using Stable Isotopes (Δ18o and Δd) And Anion-Cation Analysis: A Case Study in the Southern Llanos Basin, Colombia

SSRN Electronic Journal (2022)

Ricardo Andrés Gómez-Moncada Andrés Mora Marcela Jaramillo Henry Mayorga Andrés Martínez

The topographic and structural configuration of the deformation front in foreland basins has implications in the process of hydrologic recharge of deep aquifer systems. Deep aquifer systems are favored when tectonic deformation has exhumed aquifer units to the surface, creating a connection between the surface and subsurface. The indirect water recharge processes established by this connection allows meteoric water to infiltrate and travel long distances through a basin. Therefore, establishing recharge zones and determining the influence of meteoric waters in deep aquifers represents a challenge to understand the dynamics and hydraulic potential of this type of system. This study presents new oxygen and hydrogen isotopic data from 162 samples of surface water and 109 samples from groundwater. Groundwater samples were taken from deep wells (700 m to 4000 m deep) that penetrated the aquifer units that make up the Basal Flow Unit present in the southern Llanos basin in Colombia. In addition, anion and cation analysis (HCO3, CO3, SO4, Cl, Na, K, Ca, Mg) was performed on 67 surface water samples and 93 groundwater samples from wells to evaluate their composition and existing relationship with the recharge areas. We use this data to establish the isotopic behavior of the Andean Foreland in Colombia and predict the altitude ranges of the recharge zones for a deep regional aquifer that extends along the southern Llanos basin in Colombia.

δ18O

Isotope Analysis

10.2139/ssrn.4093802

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Challenges in the Petrophysical and Dynamic Characterization of Deepwater Turbidite Deposits of the Colombian Caribbean Offshore–A Case Study

Petrophysics – The SPWLA Journal of Formation Evaluation and Reservoir Description (2021)

Juan Alejandro Angel Restrepo Ricardo Andrés Gómez-Moncada Carlos Alberto Mora Sánchez Ricardo Bueno Silva

The Colombian Caribbean region has become an important exploratory target, and recent discoveries confirm its potential as a gas province to overcome the expected near-future gas deficit. A petrophysical and dynamic characterization workflow was implemented for this challenging deepwater play, where the depositional environment is the result of turbidity current processes. The reservoirs consist mostly of thin to very thin sand layers, corresponding mainly to the Ta, Tb, and Tc divisions of the Bouma sequence as observed in the cored intervals. Bouma divisions Td and Te are related with the lowest rock quality and represent the nonreservoir intervals. The greatest challenge in the characterization of this particular reservoir is the vertical resolution, given the very low thickness of the layers, which becomes very difficult to detect using standard resolution logs. Thus, tomography images, resultant CT-scan curves, and their integration with routine and special core analyses were used to reveal the true nature of this complex reservoir. The proposed methodology focuses on the integration of routine and special core analysis for the petrophysical and dynamic characterization of the reservoir, where the pore-throat-radius distribution from high-pressure mercury injection becomes the basis of the differentiation between what is considered reservoir and what is not. Pore-throat radius estimated from high-pressure mercury injection (R35) correlates extremely well with textural features and clay content in the rock; therefore, this parameter (R35) was used to define the different classes for rock typing. The approach taken was to develop a multilinear regression model of R35 as a function of very high-resolution tomography outputs in the cored zones and then see how it may be extrapolated to the uncored zones using available high-resolution logs. Special petrophysical analyses, such as NMR low field, porous-plate capillary pressure, electrical properties, and relative permeability curves (steady state), showed correlation with the defined rock types and, in turn, allowed for a determination of the gas accumulation potential of the area. Finally, rock and fluid (dry-gas) properties have been used to build a single-well radial model to design initial well tests (DST) and predict production performance from each interval (selective tests). The simulation model represents the lateral and vertical heterogeneity related to the geological environment (turbidites). The final results have defined the flow and shut-in times during tests to optimize the budget.

Petrophysics

10.30632/pjv62n2-2021a2

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Corrigendum to “Implications of groundwater flow on preservation of heavy and extra-heavy oil accumulations in Southern Llanos Basin, Colombia” [J. South Am. Earth Sci. 119 (2022) 1–24]

Journal of South American Earth Sciences (2023)

Ricardo Andrés Gómez-Moncada Andrés Mora Marcela Jaramillo Maurício Parra Ándrés García Martínez

10.1016/j.jsames.2023.104233

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Implications of groundwater flow on preservation of heavy and extra-heavy oil accumulations in Southern Llanos Basin, Colombia

Journal of South American Earth Sciences (2022)