Fractured carbonate reservoir characterization and modelling: a multidisciplinary case study from the Cavone oil field, Italy

Nardon, S.; Marzorati, D.; Bernasconi, Andrea; Cornini, S.; Gonfalini, M.; Mosconi, S.; Romano, Antônio Wilson; Terdich, P.

doi:10.3997/1365-2397.1991027

Cited by 15 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…The schematic cross section in Figure 2d [International Commission on Hydrocarbon Exploration and Seismicity in the Emilia Region (ICHESE), 2014] intimately resembles the geological setting of the Cavone-Mirandola structural high [Nardon et al, 1991;Carminati et al, 2010].…”

Section: Structural Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ground heating and methane oxidation processes at shallow depth in Terre Calde di Medolla (Italy): Observations and conceptual model

et al. 2015

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The toponym "Terre Calde di Medolla" (literally, "Warm Earths of Medolla") refers to a farming area, located near the town of Modena (Emilia-Romagna region, northern Italy), which has always been known by the local population for the relatively high temperatures of the soil. This phenomenon is particularly evident in wintertime when the snow cover over this area rapidly melts. A detailed investigation, carried out after the devastating 2012 Emilia earthquake that affected this area, showed soil temperatures up to 44°C, i.e., 20-25°C above the local background value, together with diffuse soil fluxes of CH 4 (0-2432 g × m, especially from subcircular (a few meters in diameter) zones. Ground heating and gas seepage appear spatially correlated, thus suggesting a close relationship between the two phenomena. The anomalous high ground temperature is not associated with an anomalous geothermal gradient or with the uprising of deep-seated hot fluids. According to the lateral and vertical distributions of the temperatures as well as the chemical and isotopic compositions of the soil gases, the most reliable explanation is the exothermic oxidation of diffusely uprising biogenic methane at very shallow levels (<1 m). Such a process occurs in the presence of free oxygen and methanotrophic bacteria and can then explain (i) the observed ground heating up, (ii) the diffuse emission from the soil of CO 2 characterized by an extremely negative isotopic ( 13 C/ 12 C) signature, and (iii) the lack of diffuse and low CH 4 fluxes. According to these hypotheses, the heating phenomena affecting the shallow groundwater and the ground surface, as described by several witnesses in the area of the May-June 2012 Emilia earthquake, could be related to either a coseismic or postseismic onset of new areas affected by CH 4 seepage or an increase in preexisting CH 4 fluxes.

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Section: Structural Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ground heating and methane oxidation processes at shallow depth in Terre Calde di Medolla (Italy): Observations and conceptual model

et al. 2015

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“…However, fracture data at depth along the Mirandola anticline can be found in published Formation MicroScanner images. In the Cavone oil field, at depths of 2868–2870 m, within the Upper Jurassic “Rosso Ammonitico Inferiore” formation, closed shear fractures generally dipping 47°–58° to the south and rarely to the north are imaged [ Nardon et al , 1991]. A similar picture is imaged at depths of 2928–2931 m, where, in addition, an open subvertical fracture oriented NW‐SE occurs [ Pilenko , 1988].…”

Section: Stress Field Along the Mirandola Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the study area, this double curvature can be recognized in a structural map (Figure 5) of the bottom of the Aptian‐Cenomanian Marne del Cerro Fm. [ Nardon et al , 1991]. This map shows a roughly E‐W trending fold, laterally cut by approximately N‐S trending faults.…”

Section: Potential Sources For Along‐depth Stress Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This map shows a roughly E‐W trending fold, laterally cut by approximately N‐S trending faults. These faults probably developed by reactivation as tear faults of Jurassic extensional faults and led to the lateral segmentation of the Mirandola structures but did not prevent hydraulic communication between the blocks themselves [ Nardon et al , 1991]. The map shows two major structural highs: the Cavone and the San Giacomo‐Concordia culminations.…”

Section: Potential Sources For Along‐depth Stress Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Compaction‐induced stress variations with depth in an active anticline: Northern Apennines, Italy

2010

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[1] It is shown that the stress field can vary with depth, even within a homogeneous tectonic setting, as documented for the active Mirandola fault-related fold along the buried front of the northern Apennines. Analyses of borehole breakouts and other well data, integrated with seismological information and field evidence, show that extension perpendicular to the fold axis, above approximately 1200 m, changes to a strike-slip stress field and finally to compression near the main detachment at depth. Similar along-depth strain variations recognized in non-active anticlines are usually explained by invoking tangential longitudinal strain folding (i.e., stretching above and shortening below a neutral surface) or gravitational instabilities. However, in this study, we propose that differential compaction may play a significant and generally overlooked role. With the aid of numerical modeling, it is shown that where fold limbs are onlapped by highly compactable deposits (as in the Mirandola area), differential compaction induces stretching at shallow (<1-2 km) depths. The amount of stretching is a function of the shape of the fold and of the thickness of the syn-tectonic sediments. We conclude that in the Mirandola case study, the stress variations observed with depth are the result of a combination of a regional compression at depth and local tension driven by differential compaction of growth strata on the limbs of the anticline with respect to its crest.

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“…Hydrocarbon reservoirs lie within fault-driven anticlines that formed during the construction of the Apennines fold and thrust belt between the Miocene and the Upper Pliocene (ENI, 1996;Casero, 2004;Bertello et al, 2010;Casero and Bigi, 2013). Sustained Pleistocene activity of these thrusts is locally documented by subsurface data in addition to geomorphic (Burrato et al, 2003), geodetic (Devoti et al, 2011) and seismological evidence (Rovida et al, 2011). In some areas, thrusting also involves the Mesozoic carbonate succession, bringing it at shallow depth where it can be easily drilled (e.g.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Earthquakes and depleted gas reservoirs: which comes first?

Mucciarelli

Donda

Valensise

2015

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. While scientists are paying increasing attention to the seismicity potentially induced by hydrocarbon exploitation, so far, little is known about the reverse problem, i.e. the impact of active faulting and earthquakes on hydrocarbon reservoirs. The 20 and 29 May 2012 earthquakes in Emilia, northern Italy (Mw 6.1 and 6.0), raised concerns among the public for being possibly human-induced, but also shed light on the possible use of gas wells as a marker of the seismogenic potential of an active fold and thrust belt. We compared the location, depth and production history of 455 gas wells drilled along the Ferrara-Romagna arc, a large hydrocarbon reserve in the southeastern Po Plain (northern Italy), with the location of the inferred surface projection of the causative faults of the 2012 Emilia earthquakes and of two pre-instrumental damaging earthquakes. We found that these earthquake sources fall within a cluster of sterile wells, surrounded by productive wells at a few kilometres' distance. Since the geology of the productive and sterile areas is quite similar, we suggest that past earthquakes caused the loss of all natural gas from the potential reservoirs lying above their causative faults. To validate our hypothesis we performed two different statistical tests (binomial and Monte Carlo) on the relative distribution of productive and sterile wells, with respect to seismogenic faults. Our findings have important practical implications: (1) they may allow major seismogenic sources to be singled out within large active thrust systems; (2) they suggest that reservoirs hosted in smaller anticlines are more likely to be intact; and (3) they also suggest that in order to minimize the hazard of triggering significant earthquakes, all new gas storage facilities should use exploited reservoirs rather than sterile hydrocarbon traps or aquifers.

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Fractured carbonate reservoir characterization and modelling: a multidisciplinary case study from the Cavone oil field, Italy

Cited by 15 publications

References 0 publications

Ground heating and methane oxidation processes at shallow depth in Terre Calde di Medolla (Italy): Observations and conceptual model

Ground heating and methane oxidation processes at shallow depth in Terre Calde di Medolla (Italy): Observations and conceptual model

Compaction‐induced stress variations with depth in an active anticline: Northern Apennines, Italy

Earthquakes and depleted gas reservoirs: which comes first?

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