Research in Egypt

This research was undertaken by PhD student Victoria Catterall, supervised by Prof Jonathan Redfern and Prof Rob Gawthorpe. PostDoc researcher Dr Dorthe Hansen (now Statoil) also contributed to the work. This project studied deepwater depositional processes, controls and evolution of the Nile Delta, Egypt, in the context of submarine channel evolution, and generation and interaction with mass-transfer-complexes. It utilized an extensive 3D database provided by BG Group. This work was undertaken within a sequence stratigraphic framework, with the results providing new and important quantification of the slope system evolution in terms of architecture, structure and morphology.

Publications:

Catterall, V., Redfern, J., Gawthorpe, R.L., Hansen, D.M & Thomas, M.H.F (2010), Architectural Style and Quantification of a Submarine Channel-Levee Systems located in a structurally complex area: Offshore Nile Delta, Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 80; no. 11; pp. 991-1017; DOI: 10.2110/jsr.2010.084

PhD thesis:

2010: Dr Victoria Catterall (now with ExxonMobil): Evolution and morphology or deepwater channels, offshore Nile Delta, Egypt. NERC/ BG Group Case funded.

This project was led by postdoctoral fellow Dr Guy Spence. Outcrop analogues of subsurface naturally fractured carbonate hydrocarbon reservoirs in Egypt were studied to improve our understanding of fracture development and prediction in these complex reservoirs. Field studies were undertaken in Egypt prior to the political situation changing. The project involved the use of DGM/ LiDAR 3-D field mapping of fractured carbonate outcrops, sedimentary logging, sampling and mapping. Data processing and analysis used the Manchester in-house software VRGS and Schlumberger's Petrel software. The aim was to improve understanding of fracture characterisation and property modeling.

Publications:

Spence, G.H., Redfern, J., Aguilera R., Bevan, T., Cosgrove, J.W., Couples, G., Daniel, J-M. (eds) (2014), Advances in the Study of Fractured Reservoirs. Geological Society, London, Special Publication v. 374. and papers therein