Athabasca Viking/Grand Rapids/Nisku Technical ... - Oil Reserve Inc.

Grand Rapids
The Lower Cretaceous Grand Rapids Formation in the Athabasca area of Alberta represents a regional
marine shoreface environment (Connelly, 2012). This sand-dominated system composed of very finegrained,
unconsolidated sand, argillaceous sand, and shale consists of a series of coarsening-upward,
unconsolidated sand cycles. It is divided into two main intervals the Upper and Lower Grand Rapids.
The Grand Rapids Formation overlies the Clearwater shale and is capped by the Joli Fou shale.
Hydrocarbons are trapped in the porous sands as the pinch-out or grade laterally into the surrounding
marine shales and silts.
The Grand Rapids Formation extends regionally in this area; in the Nixon area this is a play on the Upper
Grand Rapids with gas over bitumen, as indicated by well logs. It is focused on a nine section area of
ORI land (Grand Rapids focus area; Grand Rapids Formation map) where three wells show oil potential
on logs (100/14-13, 100/09-22 and 100/11-23-069-15W4). Potential reservoir zones on ORI land average
56 meters of gross thickness, 34 percent porosity, and 43 percent water saturation. Grand Rapids core
recoveries in Nixon are rare, however, core data over the target interval is available in the 100/08-28-068-
17W4 well. With the exception of a one meter thick, high porosity interval, core and well log porosity are
very similar. Core permeability averages between 100 to 800 millidarcies and oil saturation is recorded at
20 to 40 percent over an interval calculating 30 to 50 percent. The upper zone of the Upper Grand
Rapids appears to be hydrocarbon charged (gas over oil) in three wells in the Grand Rapids focus area,
based on volumetric calculation, drill stem test, and core recovery.
Fifty six wells have produced oil/bitumen from the Upper Grand Rapids in the mapped area, none in the
focus area. The Athabasca - Grand Rapids pool has produced 78 thousand barrels of bitumen from 48
wells since 1974. Production comes from the same Upper Grand Rapids interval targeted by ORI.
Additionally, 18 oil tests in the Grand Rapids exist in the mapped area suggesting an expected, average
bitumen API gravity of approximately 12.0 degrees. Within ten miles of the focus area, two wells have
produced Upper Grand Rapids oil; 100/07-07-069-13W4/02 and 100/10-31-068-13W4/02 (analogue
wells) have produced one and two barrels of oil respectively. Further southwest, with similar
characteristics to the two analogue wells, 100/10-26-065-17W4/00 has produced six barrels of oil.
The entire hydrocarbon column in the 100/14-13-069-15W4 well on company land shows cross-over of
the density and neutron porosity curves, indicating gas. It is possible that 100/14-13-069-15W4 also
contains bitumen for a number of reasons. Firstly, the degree of separation of the porosity curves is
instantly and drastically reduced at the gas over bitumen contact, approximately +280 meters subsea, a
value based on the contacts in the 100/09-22 and 100/11-23-069-15W4 wells. Secondly, the gas
production rates of the analogue wells reflect the respective net pay. 100/14-13-069-15W4 production
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