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Discussing how the Five Steps to Heaven make Beatrice Field Successful in terms of Petroleum Geology

Basically, the presence of oil and gas in the North Sea can be understood by taking a view of the late Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous extensional tectonics and failed rifting of the crust. As a result of the key occurrence of rifting, the existence of hydrocarbons varies from pre-rift, syn-rift and post-rift reservoirs. The pre-rift is all about the episodes and processes before rifting occurred. The syn-rift is about the episodes and processes that occurred during rifting. The post-rift emphasises on the process of deposition and episodes of formation that occurred after the late Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous. In areas of the Moray Firth Basin, sinking due to fault control continued all over much early Cretaceous time. The Beatrice Field is in the Inner Moray Firth Basin having a reservoir which includes many layers of Lower and Middle Jurassic sediments that contain high wax crude oil. The structure of the reservoir comprises sandstones, siltstones and claystones of Lower Jurassic to Middle Jurassic. The Beatrice Oilfield is the only producing oil field that can be seen from land in the North Sea. It is located in NE Scotland in United Kingdom Continental Shelf Block 11/30a and it is 14 miles offshore, near Lybster in Caithness.

Figure 1: Beatrice Field: Distance to land and median lines (http://makeawesome.co.uk/index.php?/design/whiteboard-for-mott-macdonald/, accessed Nov 2011)

In terms of petroleum geology, a field is successful when it meets the following five essential requirements: source rock, migration, porous and permeable reservoir rock, impermeable cap rock or seal and a trap where the petroleum migration is barricaded. The source rock of the Beatrice has been a controversy for a long time now. This is due to its odd location and chemical formation which is in contrast to Piper and other North Sea hydrocarbon produced from Kimmeridge Clay. The prospect of hydrocarbon in the Inner Moray Firth (IMF) has been identified in lacustrine Devonian dolomitic siltstones, Middle Jurassic paralic coals, Upper Jurassic marine shales, and other rocks. According to (Hillis et al 1994), the IMF experienced major uplift in the early Tertiary and therefore was at no time exposed to deep Tertiary burial. This same event led to the maturation of Kimmeridge Clay Formation in producing oil elsewhere. This implies that the Kimmeridge shales in the IMF have not experienced deep burial into the hydrocarbon kitchen to get cooked (Marshall, J E A, 1998).

The outcome of the debate on Beatrice led to the acceptance that it was produced form Upper Jurassic shales. However, Duncan & Hamilton (1988) and Peters et al (1989) made a conclusion saying the combination of both Devonian and Lower to Middle Jurassic shales formed the source rocks for Beatrice. Meanwhile, Bailey et al. (1990) demonstrated that Beatrice source rock was Middle Devonian in totality precisely upper part of Caithness lacustrine formation (Marshall, J E A, 1998). The deeper areas of the IMF Basin contain hydrocarbons; these hydrocarbons are Devonian and Lower to Middle Jurassic, and their points of existence are between the east of the major field fault and the Great Glen fault. Migration could take place freely into the sandstone horizons, and this occurred in the Beatrice formation, vertically. In that the Beatrice crude oil is high in wax, the path of migration would certainly be short. Before the Late Cretaceous, migration is thought to have occurred, and this is because at some time in Mid-Cretaceous, a period of maximum burial took place. This led to the maturation of the deeper source rocks to the east of the main fault. Most of the fields in the Moray Firth Basin produce hydrocarbons from syn-rift and post-rift reservoirs. The Beatrice Field however, is a pre-rift producing field which develop on tilted footwall blocks. The Lower to Middle Jurassic shallow marine and coastal sediments is the reservoir formation of the Beatrice Field. The net pay sandstone of the Beatrice is Middle to Upper Callovian in age. The Beatrice Field seal is known to be the Heather Formation marine claystone. Its reservoir, bounded by the fault wall, provides the top and lateral seal which is overlain by Heather Formation marine claystone. In Beatrice, the trap structure is a high, angled fault block inclining in a North East to South West direction. The Beatrice structural trap was developed during the Upper Oxfordian period while it came to an end by Kimmeridge periods. Though, some movement persisted probably as late as the Ryazanian period along the major field fault (Abbotts, I L, 1991).

Figure 2: Stratigraphic column. (Left) reservoir to seabed; (right) Beatrice

reservoir section indicating zonation (Abbotts, I L, 1991).

The future of oil production at the Beatrice Field was extended by the Titan Process which was once known as Biological Oil Stimulation (BOS). This technology was applied to the field and serviced for four years (1992 1995) by British Petroleum (BP); though, BP petroleum engineers also used other engineering experiments during this period. A consultancy firm, Bridgefield Consultants, admitted the Titan Process resulted in most of the 25% increase (see figure below). The field is expected to continue more production for 11 16 years thereby, negating the expected 1996 decommissioning. Though, there is no scientific proof that Titan Process could have an impact on such major field, but positive quotes from BP and Bridgefield Consultants imply otherwise.

Figure 3: North Sea Field, 1991 -1994 Scheduled Production Versus Actual BOPD (http://www.titanoilrecovery.com/northsea-results.html, accessed Nov 2011)

In conclusion, the prospectivity of Beatrice Field a subset of Moray Firth Basin for the commercial production of hydrocarbon has been shown through the five steps to heaven. The commercial production of hydrocarbon requirements was met as the reservoir formation proved good. That is, a source rock having a combination of both Devonian and Lower to Middle Jurassic shales, presence of migration, seal, reservoir and extensional trap.

References
Abbotts, I L.; United Kingdom oil and gas fields : 25 years commemorative volume, (The Geology Society) 1991, ISBN 0-90331762-1 Marshall, J E A; The Recognition of Multiple Hydrocarbon Generation Episodes: an Example from Devonian Lacustrine Sedimentary Rocks in the Inner Moray Firth, Scotland, journal, in: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3721/is_199803/ai_n8786976/, accessed Nov 2011.

Global Results with the Titan Process North Sea Results United Kingdom, webpage, http://www.titanoilrecovery.com/northsearesults.html, accessed Nov 2011 The Oil Spill Training Company Produced a (1.6m x 1m) whiteboard with nautical chart of The Beatrice oil field off the North-East coast of Scotland for Mott MacDonald, webpage, http://makeawesome.co.uk/index.php?/design/whiteboard-for-mottmacdonald/, accessed Nov 2011.

Bibliography
Petroleum prospectivity of the principal sedimentary basins on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf, pdf document, https://www.og.decc.gov.uk/UKpromote/geoscientific/UKCS_prospectivit y.pdf, accessed Nov 2011. Kimmeridgian Shales Total Petroleum System of the North Sea Graben Province, pdf document, http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/2204/c/pdf/B2204C.pdf, accessed Nov 2011. K. E. Peters , J. M. Moldowan , A. R. Driscole , G. J. Demaison. (1989). Origin of Beatrice Oil by Co-Sourcing from Devonian and Middle Jurassic Source Rocks, Inner Moray Firth, United Kingdom. AAPG Bulletin. 73 (4) in: http://doi.aapg.org/data/open/offer.do?target=%2Fbulletns%2F198889%2Fimages%2Fpg%2F00730004%2F0450%2F04540.pdf, accessed Nov 2011.