Evolution of hydrocarbon migration style in a fractured reservoir deduced from fluid inclusion data, Clair Field, west of Shetland, UK

A petrographic and fluid inclusion microthermometric study was performed on sandstones from the Devonian-Carboniferous reservoir rocks of the Clair Field, west of Shetland. Fluid inclusion petrographic and microthermometric observations were collected from quartz, K-feldspar and calcite cements and veins. Vein and cement minerals host both aqueous and hydrocarbon two-phase (liquid and vapor-filled) fluid inclusions indicating that cementation occurred during oil charging. The location of hydrocarbon fluid inclusions in the paragenetic sequence of the reservoir rocks indicates that hydrocarbon migration during early-stage diagenesis occurred via intergranular pores as well as fractures, whereas towards the later stages of diagenesis, as porosities were occluded, hydrocarbon migration was predominantly fracture controlled. The microthermometric characteristics of primary and secondary aqueous fluid inclusions in association with hydrocarbon fluid inclusions indicates that cementation and veining during oil charging occurred at temperatures up to 180 °C. Salinity values are variable (0–10.9 wt% NaCl eq.) indicating that fluid mixing occurred during veining and cementation. Basin modeling and vitrinite reflectance data indicate that temperatures of up to 180 °C could not have been attained through burial alone. The high temperatures attained during late-stage diagenesis are interpreted to be caused by high temperature, short-lived fluids circulating within the Devonian-Carboniferous reservoir rocks in association with late Cretaceous and Paleocene magmatism. These high temperature fluid flow events were not recorded in the vitrinite reflectance data because of their short duration.