Heavy mineral stratigraphic analysis on the clair field, UK, west of shetlands: A unique real-time solution for red-bed correlation while drilling

Hydrocarbons in the Clair Field, west of the Shetland Islands, are hosted by Devonian–Carboniferous clastic red beds deposited in a nonmarine fluviolacustrine setting. The succession is almost entirely biostratigraphically barren and, hence, alternative approaches to reservoir correlation are required. Heavy mineral analysis (HMA), which subdivides clastic successions on the basis of changes in provenance and sediment transport history, has proven successful in establishing a high-resolution correlation framework for the Clair Field.