Hydrodynamic Trapping of Hydrocarbons - An Underappreciated Exploration Concept

Hydrodynamic trapping of oil and gas is a well-understood natural process that is however not systematically taken into account in exploration. Hydrodynamics causes lateral water pressure gradients within a well connected permeable reservoir. Detection of hydrodynamics relies therefore on the availability of water pressure data which are usually sparse during exploration. It can be shown that under specific geological conditions hydrodynamics can have a significant impact on shape and size of HC volumes. The key is in the integration of structural, depositional, and seismic data with hydraulic data to overcome these difficulties. Successful examples of application of these methods are in the Paleozoic Basins of Algeria and Libya, the Mesozoic reservoirs above North Dome giant field, Qatar, the Miocene series of the Mahakam Delta, Indonesia, and the Mio-Pliocene series of the South Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan.