It often seems as though attempts to find sweet spots are restricted to seismic, petrophysics, cores, and regional geological information. There’s geochemical information as well, and as yet, it’s often an underutilized data set, often because there is little or no consistency in the information gathered in all the wells.

That could change, and a powerful new geochemical approach could be emerging in Downhole Geochemical Imaging. It’s a new concept and companies such as Gore are applying it to unconventional reservoirs in order to identify and map sweet spots.

This data may be used to:

• Correlate with electronic and nuclear logging results to better define test intervals of interest
• Identify preferred completion zones and petroleum phase (gas, condensate, oil)
• Reduce testing/completion costs and time
• Evaluate seal rock integrity
• Better understand petroleum migration patterns and petroleum phase differences between source, migration, and reservoir rocks
• Potentially understand vertical compartmentalization

AAPG Education is making information on the new technique available on October 31, 2012, in a new e-symposium, A 3-D Approach to Hydrocarbon Mapping in Resource Plays.

The e-symposium will consist of a one-hour webinar (2 pm central time), as well as ongoing access to the archived materials. You’ll also receive access to articles and other materials, along with review questions, which you may complete and turn in for CEU credits.