Homoud Al Anzi

MSc student - Geo

Education

B.Sc. in Geology, Kuwait University/Kuwait in 1999

Work Experience

Joined Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia in June 2000

• Area Exploration Dept. (1 year)
• Geological Operations and Wellsite Geology (2 years)
• Geological Technical Services Dept. (2 years)

Research Project

Sedimentology of Murta Formation

Supervisors: Dr. Tobias Payenberg (ASP), Dr. Peter Tingate (ASP) and Dr. Nicholas Lemon (Santos)

Scholarship support: Saudi Aramco

Technical Support: SANTOS Ltd.

Introduction

The early Cretaceous (Barremian) Murta Formation and its basal McKinlay Member are largely lacustrine units deposited between the Jurassic fluvial and lacustrine units below (Namur Sandstones) and Cretaceous marine shales and thin sands above (Cadna-Owie Formation). In hydrocarbon terms, the Murta contains the highest relatively continuous sand units beneath the thickest, most continuous seal in the Eromanga Basin. The reservoirs in this position are commonly oil charged but productivity is strongly controlled by depositional facies with generally low production and recovery factors. This project is to define those parts of the basin where productivity and recovery are likely to be optimal.

Scope of project

The project will take in number techniques including petrophysical log correlation, core description, rock-based sequence stratigraphy, petrology, special core analysis (SCAL) and palaeogeography.

Regional correlations - use wireline log sets to subdivide the formation from both the South Australian and Queensland parts of the basin, concentrating more on chronostratigraphy than lithostratigraphy. Break out individual sands from log signatures.

Core logging - log representative cored intervals across the basin, correlating back to the type sections in Dullingari North 1, Dullingari 9 and Strzelecki 4. The focus will be on subdividing the reservoir sands into depositional styles (fluvial, distributary channel, turbidite, beach and tempestite).

Petrology - Cut sufficient thin sections to define the reservoir characteristics of each of the depositional facies. This includes scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to define the clay distribution and pore geometry and x-ray diffraction (XRD) to define the clay types present. The focus will be on the origin/provenance of the coarse input to the basin at times of lowered lake level and the nature and controls on the carbonate cemented zones.

SCAL - Map parts of the core, particularly in the tempestite facies, by probe permeametry to determine the vertical and lateral permeability.

Palaeogeography - Build a model of the basin taking into account its size and shape, position on the continent, palaeolatitude and orientation, likely prevailing winds and wind fetch, all to determine where sandy beaches and shorelines might preferentially develop as opposed to muddy shorelines.

Homoud is part of the research group RARG (Reservoir Analogues Research Group)