High resolution geochemical and petrographical correlation of deep marine Palaeocene sandstones from the Foinaven Field, West of Shetland

Cores from three wells in the Upper Palaeocene deep-marine reservoir interv al of the Foinaven Field, West of Shetland have been analysed using trace e lement geochemistry and petrography. The 60 m thick turbidite-dominated suc cession is restricted to the T34 biozone and comprises a series of seismica lly defined channel and overbank deposits. Petrographic and trace element g eochemical data indicate that wells 204/24a-3 and 204/25b-5 have strong sim ilarities and that strata in the remaining well (204/24a-7) have distinctly different signatures. Of the two related wells, 204/25b-5 is dominated by a thick amalgamated sandstone succession, 204/24a-3 by more thinly bedded a nd finer grained sandstones considered to represent channel and associated overbank deposits respectively. Similarities in geochemical and petrographi c data allow division of the biozone in the two related wells into four pri ncipal correlation zones with two additional sub-zones. The study has estab lished a high resolution correlation scheme and constrained correlation len gths for reservoir and non-reservoir facies in a deep marine depositional s ystem.