Integrated petrophysical and petrographical studies for characterization of reservoirs: a case study of Muglad Basin, North Sudan

Petrography, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and both conventional and special core analyses are applied to precisely reservoir characterize the Lower Cretaceous Bentiu and Abu Gabra Formations of the Muglad Basin, which is among the largest hydrocarbon reservoirs in South Kordofan, SW North Sudan. Based on this integrated study, the Abu Gabra-Bentiu sequence comprises four petrographical microfacies, which consist of two reservoir rock types (RRTs). RRT1 is composed of quartz arenites and RRT2 is composed of quartz wackes. The greatest storage, flow capacities, and reservoir quality are assigned for RRT1 due to its good-to-excellent porosity (average null = 26.7%), permeability (average k = 1365 md), reservoir quality index (RQI, average = 1.43 mu m), flow zone indicator (FZI, average = 3.66 mu m) and discrete rock type (DRT, average = 13). The relatively low-to-fair reservoir quality of the Abu Gabra Formation (average null = 13.2%, average k = 14.7 md, average RQI = 0.17 mu m, average FZI = 1.05 mu m, and average DRT = 10) is due to authigenic kaolinite and siderite content, compaction and cementation by silica and clay patches.

Automated summary

This study applied various techniques to characterize precisely the reservoirs of the Lower Cretaceous Bentiu and Abu Gabra Formations in the Muglad Basin of Sudan. The Abu Gabra-Bentiu sequence consists of four petrographical microfacies, with RRT1 being the reservoir rock type with the highest reservoir quality, mainly composed of quartz arenites.