Case Study: Greater Wamsutter Field, Wyoming-Tight Gas Reservoir

摘要

The greater Wamsutter Field area lies in the Eastern Green River Basin (EGRB). It comprises a vast producing area which is draped over the Wamsutter Arch and extends a considerable distance down-dip into the sub-basins to the north and south, the Red Desert and Washakie basins, respectively. Mapping of reservoir intervals indicates that the trapping mechanism is dominantly stratigraphic, though in a regional sense there is clearly a structural component that was likely focusing hydrocarbon migration into the area. The greater Green River Basin and its many sub-basins represent a foreland to the Cretaceous Sevier Oro-genic Belt to the west, now marked by the Utah-Wyoming Overthrust. The Cretaceous foreland basin was subsequently altered structurally by the tectonic activity of the Laramide Orogeny, which was responsible for the present expression of the Wind River Mountains, the Uinta Mountains, the Rock Springs Uplift (RSU), and the Rawlins Uplift. These structural elements bound the EGRB on the north, south, west, and east sides, respectively, and are the structural controls on the Mesaverde petroleum system.