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Low-Penneability Gas Ieservoirs in Marine Cretaceous Sandstones of Saskatchewan: 12. W?ll-IDg .Analysis of Belly River sardstone Torgues (Caq:lanian) of

W?stem Saskatchewan, F.astem Alberta am lbrth-Central l>tlntana

by frank Simpson1

The sttxfy area extends oortlMards fran latitude 49 degrees North to the erosiooal edge of the Montana Groop, and is further delimited by the 'lllird I>Eridian and the Alberta bor der (Fig. 1).

'llle sandstones of the so-called Victoria Sand gas pool of the Whiteside field in \\est­central Saskatchewan are the youngest strata yielding camercial production of hydrocarbcns in the provin::e. Well-log correlations by Nichol s and Wyman (1969) indicate that these reservoir strata are rrore correctly assignad to the Ribstone Creek Tongue of the Belly River Formation. In the present accmmt, the main Ribstoo.e Creek li thologies of the Whiteside prodix::tian locale are described; also the relationships between the Belly River sandstone tongues an:1 the enveloping shales

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Fig. 1 - Sketch map showi ng location of study area

of the I.ea Park and Bearpaws Fonrations are considered with respect to hydrocarbon pros­pects. Production of natural gas from Belly River reservoirs occurs at the Bindloss, Atlee-Buffalo and ~ine Hat production locales in eastern Alberta, and the approx­imately equivalent Ju:lith River Forrnatioo, at BrGm.'s Coulee , Sl:lerard and Tiger Ria;i-e gas fields in north-central ltlntana. 'Ihe data, presented in this paper, are intended to supplerrent Sirrpson (1979a, 1979b, 1980, in pr ess).

Tenninology

McLean (1971, 1977) pre.posed the use of the tenn Judith River Fonnation as a substitute for the narre Belly River Fonra.tion in Alberta and Saskatchewan. ltlst of the difficulties, r elated to the Belly River narenclature, have arisen fran attenpts to apply outcrop termin­ology to subsurface associations of strata, notabl y with regard to basal Belly River sand­s tore uni ts in the vicinity of the Fourth M:?ridian (Shouldice, 1979), and adcption of the narre Judi th River will do nothing to solve these prd::>lems. Traditional usage is followed in this series of papers , since it is the one maintained in canpany and goverrurent records in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Russell (1970) highlighted sate of the differences between approximately equivalent units of the M:)ntana Group on both sides of the international bot.ndaxy an:1 presented argune.nts in favour of retaining separate systems of nonenclature.

Reservoir Geology

Nichols and Wyrran ( 1969) examined expooures of the Ri.bstone Creek Tongue of the Belly River Fonnation and made correlations with the sections penetrated by the Higm.ood Dina 1 well (Lsd 9-12-45-1W4) and the Patricia No. 1 well (Lsd 16-l-49-1W4) . The l atter was used as a reference well for <X>rrelation of the basal sandstooes of the Belly River Fm:ma­tioo in the subsurface of western Saskatchewan '3.s sha,m by Nichol s and wyman, 1969, Fig. 4, p . 1884-1885). These data, presented in cross­section, draw a ttention to the crnposite nature

I Departrrent of Geology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4

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of the Ribstone Creek Tongue, which incorp­orates a nunber of shale beds a.rd inter­digitates with the envelcping Lea Park shales. 1he Victoria Tongue is also cacposite in fonn and occurs between 22. 9 and 45. 8 lll bela-1 the Ribstcoe Creek 'lbngue.

A generalized c:ross-secticn through the basal Belly River sandstones of the Whiteside gas Jiield (Sinp;cn, 1979b, Fig. 2, p. 193) revealed good electric-lo;r definition of uµ-,ard­coarsening in grain size within the Ri.bstone Creek Tongue as well as a thinnin:J of the unit southeastwards. 'lhe sequence coroo in the Kewanee Whiteside 7-5-30- 25(W3) well i s shewn in Figure 2. The top of the unit is relatively sharply definoo, in that the uppe:rrrost sand­st.ooes are stroogly indurated and contain abundant calcite and siderite cerrent. S.iroi.lar layers of strmgly cenented sandstone occur throughout the sequence (Fi g. 2; well 3 in Fig. 3). Increasing shaliness of the unit eastwards across the Whiteside gas field, canbined with tre occurrence of str<Ilgly indurat:ed sandstcne layers, appears to be responsible for an easterly decrease in the net pay. The average net pay is 2. 7 m and the average porosity is 35 percent. The field is located on the southern flank of an irregular anticlinal feature. The producing depth of the resexvoir is 229 rn.

Discussion

Shcwings of natural gas in the basal sandstone tCilgues of the Belly River .Famation are rel­atirely ccmnon in western Saskatchewan. An exanple is providoo by the Cdn Fes Decalta Battle Creek 12-27-3-26(W3}well, in which drill stem tests revealoo a gas srowing fran the RibstCile Creek Talgue between 424.6 and 440.4 m depth (Fig . 4, well 4). Figure 4 denalstrates the litrologic variation within the basal part of the Belly River in the vicinity of this shooin:J and in particular shoos the northeasterly attenuaticn of the Ribstone Creek sandstooes with a pinchout between the IJrqJerial et al Poosart l-l-5-2S(W3) well and the S<X.Dny Westem Prairie Olga No. 1 well (Lsd ll-25-5- 25W3) • 'nle shooing was a floo rate of 2.916 MM::f/d and was a~oo by pooitive tests i.n the Milk River Formation (0 .090 M-lcf/ d) and Phillips Sandst<Ile (0.108

Mr-k:f/d) , although the well is classifioo as an Upper Shaunavon oil well (Sask. I:ept. of Mineral Resoorces , 1977). The basal Belly River sandstCiles are likely to be rrost pros­P=Ctive in western Saskatchewan, where drape folds occur in the Cretaceous successioo above paleotopographic features at the sub-~sozoic unconformity, as along the Dcxisland-Hoosier field trend and in the Unity district, and where collapse attendant upon l ocal izoo solu­tion rerroval of the Midile ~vonian Prairie Evaporite has produ:ed reversals of dip.

KEWANEE WHITESIDE 7- 5- 30 - 25

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or u ni sh QrtY to do rk 9rttn11h 9n,- , f1ne- 9,o,r1td sonostone , mic oc eous 91oucor, i 11c , mo•ni r poor indurotion .

green ish grey to dork grHmst'I g,ey, tint - 9rGined send stone with

downwo,d ,nc, eou ·n mudstolle c ontent o, ,nte,mltttnt port1nos .

Fi g. 2 - Ribstone Creek Tongue of the Belly River Formation in the Kewa nee Whiteside 7-5-30-25 well (Lsd 7-5-30-25W3)

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CA NA[)tA N [ )(POAT GAS GOVE:N LOC K NO 10 - 2.0

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Fig. 4 - Southwest-northeast strat igraphic cross-sec tion through the Bell y River Format ion from t he Canadian Export Gas Govenlock No. 10-20 we l l (Lsd l0- 20-l- 30W3) to the Socony Western Prai r ie Olga No. l well (Lsd ll-25-5-23W3)

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2 3

KEWANEE KINDERSLEY

11- 19-29-25 KEWANEE KINDERSLEY

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M, 10 0 10 20 Mi.

References

0

w

caldwell, W.G.E. (1968): The Late Cretaceous Bearpaws Fonration in the Scuth Saskat­chewan River valley; Sask. Res. Cooncil, Geol. Div., Rept. 8.

M::Lean, J .R. (1971): Stratigraphy of tile Upper Cretaceous JUdith River Fonnat ion in the Canadian Great Plains; Sask. Res . Council, Geol. Div. , Rept. 11.

»::Lean, J.R. (1977): Lithootratigraphic norrenclature of the Upper Cretaceous Judith River Formation in southern Alberta: philcsophy and pr actice; Bull. can. Pet. Geol., v. 25, p. 1105-1114.

KB 2 30 5 P0261

St) ~

~

~ CREE• TONGUt

O l (__

Fig. 3 - Stratigraphic cross- section through the Ri bstone Creek Tong ue of the Bell y River Formation from the Kewanee Kindersley 11-19-29-25 wel l (lsd ll -19-29-25W3) to the Kewanee Kindersley 11-34-29-25 well (lsd l l -34-29-25W3). For legend see Fig. 2

Nichols , R.A.H. and Wyman, J.M. (1969) : Inter­digitation versus arbitrary cutoff: resolution of an Upper Cretaceous Stratigraphic problen, western Saskatchewan; Am.Assoc. Pet. Geol. Bull. , v . 53, p. 1880-1893.

Russell, L.S. (1970) : Correlation of the Upper cretaceous M:mtana Group retween southern Alberta and M::ntana; canadian J - Earth Sci . , v . 7, p. 1099- 1108.

Saskatche-1an DepartJrent of Mineral Resources, ( 1977): Saskatchewan Natural Gas Reserves and De-veloprent. Sul:mission before the Natural Gas J:2velq:mmt and Conservation Board, August, 1977, Regina .

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Shouldice, J.R . (1-979) : Nature arx1 potential of Belly River g1;1s sc;lirl traps a,nd re s­ervoirs i n ~stem Canada; Bull. can. Pet . Geol ., v . 27, p . 229- 241.

Sinpson, F. (1979a) : I.cw- penneabil ity gas reservoirs in mrrine, Cretaceoos sand­stones of Saskatchewan: 1. Project outline and rationale, in Sunmary of Investiga­t ions 1979 , Sask. Geol. Surv., Misc. Iept. 79-10, p . 174-180 .

Sinpsrn, F. (1979b) : La\1- penneability gas r eservoirs in marine , cretaceous sand­stones of Saskatchewan: 4. Upper Colorado and M::mtana (Turonian to Canpanian) strata of western Sas katchewan; in Srnmrry of Inves tigations 1979, Sask. Geol. Surv., Misc. Rept . 79-10, p . 191-198 .

Sinp.,on, ,F . (1980) : I.cM-penreability gas .reservoirs in marine, cretaceous sandstones of Saskatchewan: 5 • Notes on the petro l ogy of the sandstones and enveloping argillaceous rocks; in SUIIY01U)' of I nvestigations 1980 , Sask . Geol. Surv . , Misc . Iept . 80-4, p . 123-126.

Simpson, F . (in press) : Lithologic descrip­tions of selected cored sec tions from the Col arado and M::ntana Groups (middle Albian to Carrpanian) of Saskatchewan; Sask . Min. Res., Rept. 233.