1887
Volume 24 Number 5
  • ISSN: 0263-5046
  • E-ISSN: 1365-2397

Abstract

Steve Rogers, Calin Cosma, Peter Shiner, Simon Emsley, and Nicoleta Enescu discuss the power of a vertical seismic profile processing technique using three component recorded data to image a structurally complex carbonate reservoir. Vertical seismic profile surveys are carried out to address a wide range of reservoir objectives that include the simple, e.g., velocity or checkshot surveys, with applications including well log and surface seismic time-depth correlation; acoustic log calibration and synthetic seismogram generation; through to 2D and 3D imaging and salt imaging, and AVO attribute analysis. Whilst three component recording is generally the universal standard for surveys, the horizontal components frequently remain unused. This article describes the results of a VSP processing technique that utilizes all three recorded components, allowing the imaging of key structural features from 2D VSP data sets that allow the positioning of faults and fracture systems in 3D space. This technology was applied to a structurally complex fractured carbonate reservoir that has a hierarchy of fracture elements as a result of several phases of tectonic activity (Emsley et al., 2002). Typically, characterization of the geometry of these fracture elements involves the integration of features imaged in the well bore from image logs, along with the interpretation of lower resolution but wider coverage surface seismic data. Integrating these two data sources was proving problematic for two main reasons. The interpretation of image logs, with a high intensity of widely dispersed fractures, was unclear in the context of larger scale seismic features. Also, the often poor quality seismic data made interpretation of seismic scale faults difficult. This resulted in diminished confidence about the interpretation of several faults or fracture zones from the seismic data.

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/content/journals/0.3997/1365-2397.24.1095.26953
2006-05-01
2024-03-28
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  • Article Type: Research Article
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