New method for correcting bottomhole temperatures acquired from wireline logging measurements and calibrated for the onshore Gulf of Mexico Basin, U.S.A.

Abstract

Bottomhole temperature (BHT) measurements offer a useful way to characterize the subsurface thermal regime as long as they are corrected to represent in situ reservoir temperatures. BHT correction methods calibrated for the domestic onshore Gulf of Mexico basin were established in this study. These corrections are empirically derived and based on newly compiled databases of BHT wireline measurements and, to a lesser extent, drill stem test data. A unified BHT correction for the onshore Gulf Coast region, as well as 12 distinct BHT correction equations for each of the 12 physiographic provinces within the onshore Gulf Coast region, are provided. This study also characterizes the geothermal gradient across the onshore Gulf of Mexico basin, which ranges from 1.89 degrees Fahrenheit per 100 feet in the Sabine Uplift area to 1.39 degrees Fahrenheit per 100 feet in the Southern Louisiana Salt Basin. This report disseminates the slides presented at the 68th annual convention of the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies and the Gulf Coast Section of the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists that was held September 30–October 2, 2018, in Shreveport, Louisiana.