Predicting Net Sand at Kebabangan Field for 2013 Drilling Campaign, DW Sabah, Malaysia

Estimation of net-to-gross in a complex amalgamation of varying reservoir bed thickness presents many challenges. Deploying conventional shale volume cut-offs to determine net sand distributions in these types of reservoirs, as seen in the Kebabangan Field, can be misleading because conventional logs can by-pass potential hydrocarbon bearing intervals due to the so-called “low resistivity and low contrast” response that can occur in thinly laminated beds. Using the thin bed analysis (TBA) with Thomas-Stieber approach to quantify net sand within both thick beds and thinly laminated beds was found to be an effective and repeatable method in evaluating net sand distributions in a well; mainly because it utilizes only basic log data as inputs; and therefore, can be applied in all the planned Phase I development wells and reservoir intervals. By integrating and comparing the net sand results with the sand count from core and log images, we can demonstrate the successful applications of Thomas-Stieber approach in quantifying net sand in both thick blocky sands, as well as, thinly laminated reservoirs sands in Kebabangan field.