Hebron-Ben Nevis oil field

Last updated
Hebron-Ben Nevis Oil Field
Hebron Oil Platform, Newfoundland, Canada.jpg
The completed Hebron Oil Platform, before it was towed out to the edge of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland
Country Canada
Region Jeanne d'Arc Basin
Offshore/onshoreoffshore
Coordinates 46°32′38″N48°29′53″W / 46.5439°N 48.4981°W / 46.5439; -48.4981
Operator ExxonMobil - 36%, Chevron Corporation - 27%, Suncor Energy - 23%, Equinor - 10%, Nalcor Energy - 4%
Field history
Discovery1980
Start of production2017
Production
Current production of oil150,000 barrels per day (~7.5×10^6 t/a)
Estimated oil in place94 million tonnes
(~ 100×10^6 m3 or 700 million  bbl)

Hebron Oil Field, located off the coast of Newfoundland, is the fourth field to come on to production in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin. Discovered in 1981 and put online in 2017, the Hebron field is estimated to contain over 700 million barrels of producible hydrocarbons. The field is contained within a fault-bounded Mesozoic rift basin called the Jeanne d'Arc Basin.

Contents

Location

The Hebron Oil Field is located off the coast of eastern Canada in Newfoundland in the Grand Banks. It resides 350 kilometers southeast of St. John's in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin which covers roughly 8000 square kilometers. It is part of a larger oil field structure consisting of the Hibernia, White Rose, and Terra Nova oil fields. The main oil rig sits at 92 meters of water. [1]

Hebron oil field location Basin Map and Field Location.png
Hebron oil field location

Tectonic overview of the Jeanne d'Arc Basin

The Hebron Oil field formed as result of the early Mesozoic break up Pangea. Prior to break up the northern part of Africa was connected to what is now Newfoundland. At the break up a passive rift margin formed due to the creation of the Atlantic Ocean. Three major phases of Mesozoic Rifting phases occurred that affected the formation of the Hebron Oil field and Jeanne d'Arc Basin. [2]

Tethys phase

The Tethys phase occurred in the late Triassic and continued in the Early Jurassic. During this time the Jeanne d'Arc Basin was formed due to rifting forming half grabens as major crustal detachment occurred. This phase is most important phase in the construction of the Jeanne d'Arc Basin as it gave it its size. [2]

North Atlantic phase

The North Atlantic phase occurred in the late Jurassic to early Cretaceous. The basin formed in the Tethys phase experienced faulting with a North to South trend. The southern boundary of the Jeanne d'Arc Basin was formed by the reactivation of the Egret Fault. The central ridge of the basin was formed along the Voyager Fault. After this period of faulting the Avalon Uplift, a series of rift basins, occurred that allowed for uplift and erosion to occur within the basin. During this time the Atlantic Ocean continued to expand along the Newfoundland Transform Fault Zone. During the early Cretaceous in the Kimmeridgian the source rock, called the Egret Source Rock, was deposited in the basin which provided the basin oil fields a source for their oil, mainly the Hebron. [2]

Labrador phase

The Labrador phase occurred from the middle to late Cretaceous. This rifting phase began with northwest to southwest trending faults fragmenting the basin. One of the major faults formed was the Trans Basin Fault Zone which formed some of the traps to the adjacent oil fields. The major event happening at the end of this period was the deposition of the Ben Nevis formation which forms the main reservoir for the Hebron Oil Field. [2]

The Tethys, North Atlantic, and Labrador Phases were all followed by periods of tectonic subsidence and post rift thermal subsidence. At the end of the rifting phase, a passive rift margin phase occurred allowing for new depositional areas within the basin.

This shows the stratigraphy of the Hebron fault block within the Jeanne d'Arc Basin. The four main reservoirs which are depleted are labeled. HEBRON FAULT BLOCK.png
This shows the stratigraphy of the Hebron fault block within the Jeanne d'Arc Basin. The four main reservoirs which are depleted are labeled.

Stratigraphy

The Hebron Oil Field was deposited from the Triassic to the Late Cretaceous. Sediments continued to be deposited after the Cretaceous to create the surface structure of the field. Five major periods of deposition are what created the field and its residing structures. [2]

Triassic to Middle Jurassic

This period begins with the Mesozoic break up of Pangea and the beginning of the basin formation in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. In the Late Triassic sediments begin to be deposited in what is now the Jeanne d'Arc Basin during a series of Mesozoic rifting events. During the lower Jurassic period, a marine environment existed in the area allowing for the deposition of interbedded carbonates and evaporates. [2]

Oxfordian - Middle Kimmeridgian

During this upper Jurassic period, the deposition of oolitc limestones, shales and carbonated cemented sandstones were deposited in the basin. The deposition of these sandstones creates ideal seismic reflectors to aid in the understanding of formations deep within the Jeanne d'Arc Basin. In the middle Kimmeridgian the deposition of the Egret source rock occurred. This source rock is composed of marls and organic rich laminated shales. After the deposition a period of uplift and erosion occurred due to the further expansion and rifting of the Atlantic Ocean that forms an unconformity at the top of the middle Kimmeridgian deposits. [2]

Middle Kimmeridgian to Valanginian

This period began with the deposition of the Jeanne d'Arc Sandstone formation which provides a minor reservoir to the Hebron field. Sandstones were deposited from the southwest of the Grand Banks. This deposition also led to the creation of the Hibernia sandstone reservoir that is also produced in the Hebron Oil field. However, it expresses poor reservoir quality. [2]

Hauterivian to Upper Barremian

This period began with minor uplift resulting in erosion after the Hibernia sandstone was deposited. After the uplift and erosion period, overlaying sandstanes, shales and limestones were deposited into the Hebron field. Subsidence and faulting continued to occur in the basin during this time. [2]

Middle Cretaceous

The main reservoir for the Hebron Oil field was deposited. The Ben Nevis Sandstone contains roughly 80% of the producible hydrocarbons for Hebron. It was formed in a marine shore face environment and is 80 to 120 meters thick. The deep part of the Ben Nevis contains good quality sands, carbonate cemented sandstones and has good reservoir properties. It has a porosity ranging from 16% to 30% and a permeability of 360 millidarcies. The shallow section contains silty, bioturbated sands with poor reservoir quality. [1]

Reservoir and trapping characteristics

The Hebron field is separated into three distinct fault blocks: The Hebron Fault Block, The West Ben Nevis Fault Block and the Ben Nevis Fault Block. Reservoir reside in each of these due to the deposition of the Egret Source Rock in the middle Kimmeridgian. The Hebron Fault block, also called "pool one", contains the majority of the producible hydrocarbons for the field in the Ben Nevis Sandstone formation. It contains heavy oil but has good porosity and permeability. The other two fault blocks or pools are located at deeper depths and express poor reservoir quality. They are still produced but prove to be engineering challenges when it comes to extraction methods.

Trapping mechanism

During the late Cretaceous major faulting occurred due to the continued rifting of the Atlantic Ocean at the Newfoundland Transform Fault Zone. The lower reservoirs, Hibernia and Jeanne d'Arc formations, are trapped along the up dips of Anticlines and faulted tilted blocks. The main reservoir, the Ben Nevis, is trapped due to a stratagraphic trap occurring above the sandstone and trapped on the sides due to the Egret Fault. [3] [4]

Production history and the Hebron rig

Originally discovered in 1981 as a part of the Jeanne d'Arc Basin exploration, the Hebron field is the fourth production field to be put online in the basin. Construction of the rig began in 2012 and completed in 2017. The field is estimated to have over 700 million barrels of recoverable hydrocarbons. The Hebron rig is rated to produce an average of 150,000 barrels a day for at least 30 years. This is the second largest field in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin and contains relatively heavy oil between 18 and 25 API, though due for maintenance which is currently ongoing with the lead engineer name ( Engr. Michael K. High )with crew members.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Angeles Basin</span> Sedimentary basin located along the coast of southern California

The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an anomalous group of east-west trending chains of mountains collectively known as the Transverse Ranges. The present basin is a coastal lowland area, whose floor is marked by elongate low ridges and groups of hills that is located on the edge of the Pacific Plate. The Los Angeles Basin, along with the Santa Barbara Channel, the Ventura Basin, the San Fernando Valley, and the San Gabriel Basin, lies within the greater Southern California region. The majority of the jurisdictional land area of the city of Los Angeles physically lies within this basin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hibernia oil field</span> Oil field in the North Atlantic Ocean

Hibernia is an oil field in the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately 315 kilometres (196 mi) east-southeast of St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, in 80 m of water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maracaibo Basin</span> Foreland basin in Venezuela

The Maracaibo Basin, also known as Lake Maracaibo natural region, Lake Maracaibo depression or Lake Maracaibo Lowlands, is a foreland basin and one of the eight natural regions of Venezuela, found in the northwestern corner of Venezuela in South America. Covering over 36,657 square km, it is a hydrocarbon-rich region that has produced over 30 billion bbl of oil with an estimated 44 billion bbl yet to be recovered. The basin is characterized by a large shallow tidal estuary, Lake Maracaibo, located near its center. The Maracaibo basin has a complex tectonic history that dates back to the Jurassic period with multiple evolution stages. Despite its complexity, these major tectonic stages are well preserved within its stratigraphy. This makes The Maracaibo basin one of the most valuable basins for reconstructing South America's early tectonic history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of Texas</span>

Texas contains a wide variety of geologic settings. The state's stratigraphy has been largely influenced by marine transgressive-regressive cycles during the Phanerozoic, with a lesser but still significant contribution from late Cenozoic tectonic activity, as well as the remnants of a Paleozoic mountain range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Juan Basin</span> Structural basin in the Southwestern United States

The San Juan Basin is a geologic structural basin located near the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States. The basin covers 7,500 square miles and resides in northwestern New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, and parts of Utah and Arizona. Specifically, the basin occupies space in the San Juan, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, and McKinley counties in New Mexico, and La Plata and Archuleta counties in Colorado. The basin extends roughly 100 miles (160 km) N-S and 90 miles (140 km) E-W.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sirte Basin</span>

The Sirte Basin is a late Mesozoic and Cenozoic triple junction continental rift along northern Africa that was initiated during the late Jurassic Period. It borders a relatively stable Paleozoic craton and cratonic sag basins along its southern margins. The province extends offshore into the Mediterranean Sea, with the northern boundary drawn at the 2,000 meter (m) bathymetric contour. It borders in the north on the Gulf of Sidra and extends south into northern Chad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulf of Suez Rift</span> Continental rift zone that was active between the Late Oligocene and the end of the Miocene

The Gulf of Suez Rift is a continental rift zone that was active between the Late Oligocene and the end of the Miocene. It represented a continuation of the Red Sea Rift until break-up occurred in the middle Miocene, with most of the displacement on the newly developed Red Sea spreading centre being accommodated by the Dead Sea Transform. During its brief post-rift history, the deepest part of the remnant rift topography has been filled by the sea, creating the Gulf of Suez.

Safaniya Oil Field, operated and owned by Saudi Aramco, is the largest offshore oil field in the world. It is located about 265 kilometres (165 mi) north of the company headquarters in Dhahran on the coast of the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia. Measuring 50 by 15 kilometres, the field has a producing capability of more than 1.2 million barrels per day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeanne d'Arc Basin</span>

The Jeanne d'Arc Basin is an offshore sedimentary basin located about 340 kilometres to the basin centre, east-southeast of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. This basin formed in response to the large scale plate tectonic forces that ripped apart the super-continent Pangea and also led to sea-floor spreading in the North Atlantic Ocean. This basin is one of a series of rift basins that are located on the broad, shallow promontory of continental crust known as the Grand Banks of Newfoundland off Canada's east coast. The basin was named after a purported 20 metres shoal labelled as "Ste. Jeanne d'Arc" on out-dated bathymetric charts and which was once thought to represent a local exposure of basement rocks similar to the Virgin Rocks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern North Sea basin</span>

The North Sea is part of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Europe. It is located between Norway and Denmark in the east, Scotland and England in the west, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France in the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Persian Gulf Basin</span>

The Persian Gulf Basin is found between the Eurasian and the Arabian Plate. The Persian Gulf is described as a shallow marginal sea of the Indian Ocean that is located between the south western side of Zagros Mountains and the Arabian Peninsula and south and southeastern side of Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Other countries that border the Persian Gulf basin include; Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq. The Persian Gulf extends a distance of 1,000 km (620 mi) with an area of 240,000 km2 (93,000 sq mi). The Arabian Plate basin a wedge-shaped foreland basin which lies beneath the western Zagros thrust and was created as a result of the collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of the southern North Sea</span> Largest gas producing basin

The North Sea basin is located in northern Europe and lies between the United Kingdom, and Norway just north of The Netherlands and can be divided into many sub-basins. The Southern North Sea basin is the largest gas producing basin in the UK continental shelf, with production coming from the lower Permian sandstones which are sealed by the upper Zechstein salt. The evolution of the North Sea basin occurred through multiple stages throughout the geologic timeline. First the creation of the Sub-Cambrian peneplain, followed by the Caledonian Orogeny in the late Silurian and early Devonian. Rift phases occurred in the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic which allowed the opening of the northeastern Atlantic. Differential uplift occurred in the late Paleogene and Neogene. The geology of the Southern North Sea basin has a complex history of basinal subsidence that had occurred in the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic. Uplift events occurred which were then followed by crustal extension which allowed rocks to become folded and faulted late in the Paleozoic. Tectonic movements allowed for halokinesis to occur with more uplift in the Mesozoic followed by a major phase of inversion occurred in the Cenozoic affecting many basins in northwestern Europe. The overall saucer-shaped geometry of the southern North Sea Basin indicates that the major faults have not been actively controlling sediment distribution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North German basin</span> Passive-active rift basin in central and west Europe

The North German Basin is a passive-active rift basin located in central and west Europe, lying within the southeasternmost portions of the North Sea and the southwestern Baltic Sea and across terrestrial portions of northern Germany, Netherlands, and Poland. The North German Basin is a sub-basin of the Southern Permian Basin, that accounts for a composite of intra-continental basins composed of Permian to Cenozoic sediments, which have accumulated to thicknesses around 10–12 kilometres (6–7.5 mi). The complex evolution of the basin takes place from the Permian to the Cenozoic, and is largely influenced by multiple stages of rifting, subsidence, and salt tectonic events. The North German Basin also accounts for a significant amount of Western Europe's natural gas resources, including one of the world's largest natural gas reservoir, the Groningen gas field.

The Halibut Field is an oil field, within the Gippsland Basin offshore of the Australian state of Victoria. The oil field is located approximately 64 km offshore of southeastern Australia. The total area of this field is 26.9 km2 and is composed of 10 mappable units.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarfaya Basin</span>

The Tarfaya Basin is a structural basin located in southern Morocco that extends westward into the Moroccan territorial waters in the Atlantic Ocean. The basin is named for the city of Tarfaya located near the border of Western Sahara, a region governed by the Kingdom of Morocco. The Canary Islands form the western edge of the basin and lie approximately 100 km to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lusitanian Basin</span> Geological formation off the coast of Portugal

The Lusitanian Basin is a rift basin remnant located on both the mainland and continental shelf off the west-central coast of Portugal. It covers an area measuring 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 sq mi) and extends north-south from Porto to Lisbon. The basin varies between approximately 130 kilometres (81 mi) and 340 kilometres (210 mi) in width and belongs to a family of periatlantic basins such as the Jeanne d'Arc Basin. To the east of the Lusitanian Basin lies the Central Plateau of the Iberian Peninsula. A marginal horst system lies to the west. The Alentejo and Algarve Basins connect to the southern end of the Lusitanian Basin. In the north, it connects to the Porto and Galicia Basins via an undersea ridge.

The geology of Mississippi includes some deep igneous and metamorphic crystalline basement rocks from the Precambrian known only from boreholes in the north, as well as sedimentary sequences from the Paleozoic. The region long experienced shallow marine conditions during the tectonic evolutions of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, as coastal plain sediments accumulated up to 45,000 feet thick, including limestone, dolomite, marl, anhydrite and sandstone layers, with some oil and gas occurrences and the remnants of Cretaceous volcanic activity in some locations.

The geology of Denmark includes 12 kilometers of unmetamorphosed sediments lying atop the Precambrian Fennoscandian Shield, the Norwegian-Scottish Caledonides and buried North German-Polish Caledonides. The stable Fennoscandian Shield formed from 1.45 billion years ago to 850 million years ago in the Proterozoic. The Fennoscandian Border Zone is a large fault, bounding the deep basement rock of the Danish Basin—a trough between the Border Zone and the Ringkobing-Fyn High. The Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone is a fault-bounded area displaying Cretaceous-Cenozoic inversion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Junggar Basin</span> Sedimentary basin in Xinjiang, China

The Junggar Basin, also known as the Dzungarian Basin or Zungarian Basin, is one of the largest sedimentary basins in Northwest China. It is located in Dzungaria in northern Xinjiang, and enclosed by the Tarbagatai Mountains of Kazakhstan in the northwest, the Altai Mountains of Mongolia in the northeast, and the Heavenly Mountains in the south. The geology of Junggar Basin mainly consists of sedimentary rocks underlain by igneous and metamorphic basement rocks. The basement of the basin was largely formed during the development of the Pangea supercontinent during complex tectonic events from Precambrian to late Paleozoic time. The basin developed as a series of foreland basins – in other words, basins developing immediately in front of growing mountain ranges – from Permian time to the Quaternary period. The basin's preserved sedimentary records show that the climate during the Mesozoic era was marked by a transition from humid to arid conditions as monsoonal climatic effects waned. The Junggar basin is rich in geological resources due to effects of volcanism and sedimentary deposition. According to Guinness World Records it is a land location remotest from open sea with great-circle distance of 2,648 km from the nearest open sea at 46°16′8″N86°40′2″E.

The geology of the Norwegian Sea began to form 60 million years ago in the early Cenozoic, as rifting led to the eruption of mafic oceanic crust, separating Scandinavia and Greenland. Together with the North Sea the Norwegian Sea has become highly researched since the 1960s with the discovery of oil and natural gas in thick offshore sediments on top of the Norwegian continental shelf.

References

  1. 1 2 McNeill, Andrew (2018). "Geoscience Overview of the Hebron Field". Day 2 Tue, May 01, 2018. doi:10.4043/29070-MS via Onepetro.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pearson, Adam (2001). coast/developmentapplication/vol2_geology.pdf "White Rose Oilfield Development Application" (PDF). 2: 18–73 via Onepetro.{{cite journal}}: Check |url= value (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Enachescu, Micheal (2005). "Newfoundland and Labrador Call for Bids NL05-01" (PDF).{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. Enachescu, Michael (October 2009). "Petroleum Exploration Opportunities in Jeanne d'Arc Basin, Call for Bids NL09-1" (PDF).{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)