Characterizing and modeling the Upper Jurassic Arab-D reservoir using outcrop data from Central Saudi Arabia

Outcrop analogs are used to improve the characterization of reservoir stratigraphy, to understand subsurface facies architecture and heterogeneity, and to overcome the limitations associated with large inter-well spacing within individual oil fields. This study characterized and modeled outcropping,strata equivalent to the Upper Jurassic Arab-D carbonate reservoir in Central Saudi Arabia. The study presents qualitative and quantitative sedimentological and petrographic descriptions of lithofacies associations and interprets them within a high-order stratigraphic framework using geostatistical modeling, spectral gamma-ray, geochemistry, petrography and micropaleontology. The sedimentological studies revealed three lithofacies associations, which are interpreted as a gentle slope platform depositional environment comprising nine high-frequency sequences. The biocomponents of the study area show a lower degree of diversity than the subsurface Arab-D reservoir; however, some key biofacies