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The Hugoton Embayment is in southwestern Kansas and is one of the main sources of natural gas in the United States. This field is considered one of the largest gas fields, not just in the United States, but in the world; its production is a source of resources not only for Kansas but also for the country. Oil and gas production comprising the 14 southwestern counties in Kansas accounts for more than 50% of hydrocarbons produced in Kansas. The Hugoton Embayment includes the Hugoton Gas Field, the Panhandle Field, and several other smaller fields. Hugoton Gas Field has produced an estimated 40 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas since 1922.Therefore, a petrophysical characterization of the Chase Group was performed using well logs, cores, well reports and previous studies carried out in the field. It was noted that the studied wells did not have a complete set of well logs. One of the solutions to avoid the lack of information was to apply Machine Learning to predict data such as sonic or density logs through Python codes.
This project began with a thorough analysis and evaluation of the available subsurface and well log data. Subsequently, sonic and density logs—essential inputs for estimating petrophysical parameters such as porosity and permeability—were predicted using machine learning techniques. For the permeability calculation, it was first necessary to identify the type of lithologies, which were initially interpreted from core data and then extended across the dataset through predictive modeling.
To estimate water saturation, Simandoux equation and the saturation-height model based on capillary pressure data was implemented. The petrophysical analysis conducted in this thesis suggests that the Chase Group is composed of carbonate and dolomitic reservoirs, with potential hydrocarbon saturations between 70% and 85% (at the moment of discovery), and porosity values ranging between 8% and 11.6%. The Chase Group in the Hugoton Field continues to produce natural gas and according to other studies, it is expected that new volumes of gas will be discovered.