Abstract
The Western Desert accounts for approximately two thirds of Egypt's surface area. The region can be divided into a number of large scale structural provinces which developed along lines of weakness in the African basement, in response to lateral movements between Europe and Africa. Seismic evidence has revealed a subsurface comprising a series of low relief horsts and grabens. In places however, the structural history is more complex.
The Yusif field located near the Qatara depression, is habituated and, therefore has poor seimic data. Three wells were drilled in the field, Yusif -1X, Yusif-3, and Yusif-4 respectively. The fourth well is planned for the most promising area between the three wells. Formation microimaging was performed in the three wells, and interpretation of the images helped to delineate the sand body propagation and geometry in the field and choose the most promising area for drilling the fourth well.
The Lower Abu Roash “G” member usually appears as a fining upward profile from conventional openhole logs. Facies analysis was performed on the “G” member with manual sedimentary dip picking, which revealed the internal structures and directions that can't be observed from conventional logs.
Correlation with existing openhole logs showed continuity in the vertical and lateral distribution of the sand body, and queries about the relation between the sand bodies in the three wells arose. The relationship between sand bodies can't be solved by conventional openhole logs correlation.
Paleocurrent analysis was performed for the sand bodies in the three wells. The results showed that the main trend of the channel belt propagation is NE. Yusif-3 and Yusif-4 wells were drilled within the channel belt while Yusif-1X location was at the channel margin.
Correlation is based on electrofacies, which was extracted from high-resolution formation microimaging in the three wells. It was found that the “G” member top is changed based on high-resolution electrofacies detection, and the fourth well was placed closer to Yusif-3 and Yusif-4 based on the recommendations on the channel activity propagation as identified in the formation microimaging. The sand body thickness in the fourth well was almost double the thickness that was found in the previous three wells.
