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- Volume 59, Issue 1, 2011
Geophysical Prospecting - Volume 59, Issue 1, 2011
Volume 59, Issue 1, 2011
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Efficient traveltime compression for 3D prestack Kirchhoff migration
More LessABSTRACTKirchhoff 3D prestack migration, as part of its execution, usually requires repeated access to a large traveltime table data base. Access to this data base implies either a memory intensive or I/O bounded solution to the storage problem. Proper compression of the traveltime table allows efficient 3D prestack migration without relying on the usually slow access to the computer hard drive. Such compression also allows for faster access to desirable parts of the traveltime table. Compression is applied to the traveltime field for each source location on the surface on a regular grid using 3D Chebyshev polynomial or cosine transforms of the traveltime field represented in the spherical coordinates or the Celerity domain. We obtain practical compression levels up to and exceeding 20 to 1. In fact, because of the smaller size traveltime table, we obtain exceptional traveltime extraction speed during migration that exceeds conventional methods. Additional features of the compression include better interpolation of traveltime tables and more stable estimates of amplitudes from traveltime curvatures. Further compression is achieved using bit encoding, by representing compression parameters values with fewer bits.
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Using surface multiples to estimate primaries by sparse inversion from blended data
Authors G.J.A. Van Groenestijn and D.J. VerschuurABSTRACTFor data acquired with conventional acquisition techniques, surface multiples are usually considered as noise events that obscure the primaries. However, in this paper we demonstrate that for the situation of blended acquisition, meaning that different sources are shooting in a time‐overlapping fashion, multiples can be used to ‘deblend’ the seismic measurements. We utilize the recently introduced estimation of primaries by sparse inversion (EPSI) methodology, in which the primary impulse responses are considered to be the unknowns in a large‐scale inversion process. With some modifications the estimation of primaries by sparse inversion method can be used for blended seismic data. As output this process gives unblended primary impulse responses with point sources and receivers at the surface, which can be used directly in traditional imaging schemes. It turns out that extra information is needed to improve on the deblending of events that do not have much associated multiple energy in the data, such as steep events at large offsets. We demonstrate that this information can be brought in during acquisition and during processing. The methodology is illustrated on 2D synthetic data.
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Anelastic acoustic impedance and the correspondence principle
More LessABSTRACTA general definition of seismic wave impedance is proposed as a matrix differential operator transforming the displacement boundary conditions into traction ones. This impedance is proportional to the standard acoustic impedance at all incidence angles and allows extensions to attenuative media and to the full elastic case. In all cases, reflection amplitudes at the contact of two media are uniquely described by the ratios of their impedances. Here, the anelastic acoustic impedance is studied in detail and attenuation contrasts are shown to produce phase‐shifted reflections. Notably, the correspondence principle (i.e., the approach based on complex‐valued elastic modules in the frequency domain) leads to incorrect phase shifts of the impedance due to attenuation and consequently to wrong waveforms reflected from attenuation contrasts. Boundary conditions and the Lagrange formulation of elastodynamics suggest that elastic constants should remain real in the presence of attenuation and the various types of energy dissipation should be described by their specific mechanisms. The correspondence principle and complex‐valued elastic moduli appear to be applicable only to homogeneous media and therefore they should be used with caution when applied to heterogeneous cases.
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Extended imaging conditions for wave‐equation migration
Authors Paul Sava and Ivan VasconcelosABSTRACTWavefield‐based migration velocity analysis using the semblance principle requires computation of images in an extended space in which we can evaluate the imaging consistency as a function of overlapping experiments. Usual industry practice is to assemble those seismic images in common‐image gathers that represent reflectivity as a function of depth and extensions, e.g., reflection angles. We introduce extended common‐image point (CIP) gathers constructed only as a function of the space‐ and time‐lag extensions at sparse and irregularly distributed points in the image. Semblance analysis using CIP's constructed by this procedure is advantageous because we do not need to compute gathers at regular surface locations and we do not need to compute extensions at all depth levels. The CIP's also give us the flexibility to distribute them in the image at irregular locations aligned with the geologic structure. Furthermore, the CIP's remove the depth bias of common‐image gathers constructed as a function of the depth axis. An interpretation of the CIP's using the scattering theory shows that they are scattered wavefields associated with sources and receivers inside the subsurface. Thus, when the surface wavefields are correctly reconstructed, the extended CIP's are characterized by focused energy at the origin of the space‐ and time‐lag axes. Otherwise, the energy defocuses from the origin of the lag axes proportionally with the cumulative velocity error in the overburden. This information can be used for wavefield‐based tomographic updates of the velocity model, and if the velocity used for imaging is correct, the coordinate‐independent CIP's can be a decomposed as a function of the angles of incidence.
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An application of the autoregressive extrapolation technique to enhance deconvolution results: a 2D marine data example
By Hakan KarslıABSTRACTInterpreting a post‐stack seismic section is difficult due to the band‐limited nature of the seismic data even post deconvolution. Deconvolution is a process that is universally applied to extend the bandwidth of seismic data. However, deconvolution falls short of this task as low and high frequencies of the deconvolved data are either still missing or contaminated by noise. In this paper we use the autoregressive extrapolation technique to recover these missing frequencies, using the high signal‐to‐noise ratio (S/N) portions of the spectrum of deconvolved data.
I introduce here an algorithm to extend the bandwidth of deconvolved data. This is achieved via an autoregressive extrapolation technique, which has been widely used to replace missing or corrupted samples of data in signal processing. This method is performed in the spectral domain. The spectral band to be extrapolated using autoregressive prediction filters is first selected from the part of the spectrum that has a high signal‐to‐noise ratio (S/N) and is then extended. As there can be more than one zone of good S/N in the spectrum, the results of prediction filter design and extrapolation from three different bands are averaged.
When the spectrum of deconvolved data is extended in this way, the results show higher vertical resolution to a degree that the final seismic data closely resemble what is considered to be a reflectivity sequence of the layered medium. This helps to obtain acoustic impedance with inversion by stable integration. The results show that autoregressive spectral extrapolation highly increases vertical resolution and improves horizon tracking to determine continuities and faults. This increase in coherence ultimately yields a more interpretable seismic section.
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Repeatability analysis of land time‐lapse seismic data: CO2CRC Otway pilot project case study
Authors Roman Pevzner, Valeriya Shulakova, Anton Kepic and Milovan UrosevicABSTRACTTime‐lapse seismics is the methodology of choice for remotely monitoring changes in oil/gas reservoir depletion, reservoir stimulation or CO2 sequestration, due to good sensitivity and resolving power at depths up to several kilometres. This method is now routinely applied offshore, however, the use of time‐lapse methodology onshore is relatively rare. The main reason for this is the relatively high cost of commercial seismic acquisition on land. A widespread belief of a relatively poor repeatability of land seismic data prevents rapid growth in the number of land time‐lapse surveys. Considering that CO2 sequestration on land is becoming a necessity, there is a great need to evaluate the feasibility of time‐lapse seismics for monitoring. Therefore, an understanding of the factors influencing repeatability of land seismics and evaluating limitations of the method is crucially important for its application in many CO2 sequestration projects. We analyse several repeated 2D and 3D surveys acquired within the Otway CO2 sequestration pilot project (operated by the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Technologies, CO2CRC) in Australia, in order to determine the principal limitations of land time‐lapse seismic repeatability and investigate the influence of the main factors affecting it. Our findings are that the intrinsic signal‐to‐noise ratio (S/N, signal to coherent and background noise levels) and the normalized‐root‐mean‐square (NRMS) difference are controlled by the source strength and source type. However, the post‐stack S/N ratio and corresponding NRMS residuals are controlled mainly by the data fold. For very high‐fold data, the source strength and source type are less critical.
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Influence of background heterogeneity on traveltime shifts for compacting reservoirs
Authors Rodrigo F. Fuck, Ilya Tsvankin and Andrey BakulinABSTRACTCompaction induced by pore‐pressure decrease inside a reservoir can be monitored by measuring traveltime shifts of reflection events on time‐lapse seismic data. Recently we introduced a perturbation‐based formalism to describe traveltime shifts caused by the 3D stress‐induced velocity field around a compacting reservoir. Application of this method to homogeneous background models showed that the offset variation of traveltime shifts is controlled primarily by the anisotropic velocity perturbations and can provide valuable information about the shear and deviatoric stresses.
Here, we model and analyse traveltime shifts for compacting reservoirs whose elastic properties are different from those of the surrounding medium. For such models, the excess stress is influenced primarily by the contrast in the rigidity modulus μ across the reservoir boundaries. Synthetic examples demonstrate that a significant (25% or more) contrast in μ enhances the isotropic velocity perturbations outside the reservoir. Nevertheless, the influence of background heterogeneity is mostly confined to the reservoir and its immediate vicinity and the anisotropic velocity changes are still largely responsible for the offset dependence of traveltime shifts. If the reservoir is stiffer than the host rock, the background heterogeneity reduces anisotropic velocity perturbations inside the reservoir but increases them in the overburden. As a result, in this case, the magnitude of the offset variation of traveltime shifts is generally higher for reflections from interfaces above the reservoir.
We also study compaction‐induced stress/strain and traveltime shifts for a stiff reservoir embedded in a softer layered model based on velocity profiles from the Valhall Field in the North Sea. Despite producing discontinuities in strain across medium interfaces, horizontal layering does not substantially alter the overall behaviour of traveltime shifts. The most pronounced offset variation of traveltime shifts is observed for overburden events recorded at common midpoints close to the reservoir edges. On the whole, prestack analysis of traveltime shifts should help better constrain compaction‐induced velocity perturbations in the presence of realistic background heterogeneity.
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Exploring the effect of meso‐scale shale beds on a reservoir's overall stress sensitivity to seismic waves
Authors Colin MacBeth, Yesser HajNasser, Karl Stephen and Andy GardinerABSTRACTIntra‐reservoir, sub‐seismic shale beds with a thickness range from 1–10 m are present in most clastic reservoirs. They are often studied to investigate their effect on fluid flow and reservoir performance. Here, it is found that shales with such thicknesses can also strongly affect the effective elastic wave behaviour of the composite reservoir, particularly when observed with frequent time‐lapse surveys. More specifically, for reservoirs experiencing pressure depletion, the effective impedance of the reservoir interval is usually expected to harden, however our results indicate that shales can reduce this hardening effect or perhaps unexpectedly soften the overall impedance. The overall in situ stress sensitivity of the reservoir is reduced below that predicted from taking laboratory core plug measurements of sand stress sensitivity alone. These predictions are based on a combination of geomechanical and pressure diffusion phenomena that are in turn controlled by the shale thickness, permeability and the mechanical properties. As sub‐seismic shale layers of approximately 1 m thickness take less than three months to pressure equilibrate whilst thicker shale layers of 10 m can take over 20 years, in the context of repeated seismic surveying our predictions require accurate knowledge of the shale properties and statistics and hence a good description of the sedimentology. Based on our default property values, it appears that reduced or anomalous stress sensitivity is likely to be more important for 4D projects with frequent acquisitions of 3–12 months but is of less concern when seismic is repeated on conventional time periods of every 5–10 years. The critical set of parameters required to carry out accurate calibration of these predictions is not yet fully available from published literature.
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Observations of fluid‐dependent shear‐wave splitting in synthetic porous rocks with aligned penny‐shaped fractures‡
ABSTRACTP‐ and S‐wave velocity and attenuation coefficients (accurate to ±0.3% and ±0.2 dB/cm, respectively) were measured in synthetic porous rocks with aligned, penny‐shaped fractures using the laboratory ultrasonic pulse‐echo method. Shear‐wave splitting was observed by rotating the S‐wave transducer and noting the maximum and minimum velocities relative to the fracture direction. A block of synthetic porous rock of fracture density 0.0201 ± 0.0068 and fracture size 3.6 ± 0.38 mm (measured from image analysis of X‐ray CT scans) was sub‐sampled into three 20–30 mm long, 50 mm diameter core plugs oriented at 0°, 45° and 90° to the fracture normal (transversely isotropic symmetry axis). Full waveform data were collected over the frequency range 500–1000 kHz for both water and glycerin saturated cores to observe the effect of pore fluid viscosity at 1 cP and 100 cP, respectively. The shear‐wave splitting observed in the 90° core was 2.15 ± 0.02% for water saturated and 2.39 ± 0.02% for glycerin saturated, in agreement with the theory that suggests that the percentage splitting should be 100 times the fracture density and independent of the saturating fluid. In the 45° core, by contrast, splitting was 0.00 ± 0.02% for water saturation and −0.77 ± 0.02% for glycerin saturation. This dependence on fracture orientation and pore fluid viscosity is consistent with the poro‐visco‐elastic theory for aligned, meso‐scale fractures in porous rocks. The results suggest the possible use of shear‐ or converted‐wave data to discriminate between fluids on the basis of viscosity variations.
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A feasibility study of borehole radar as a permanent downhole sensor
Authors Mattia Miorali, Evert Slob and Rob ArtsABSTRACTPermanent downhole sensors provide the eyes and ears to the reservoir and enable monitoring the reservoir conditions on a real‐time basis. In particular, the use of sensors and remotely controlled valves in wells and on the surface, in combination with reservoir flow models provide enormous benefits to reservoir management and oil production. We suggest borehole radar measurements as a promising technique capable to monitor the arrival of undesired fluids in the proximity of production wells.
We use 1D modelling to investigate the expected signal magnitude and depth of investigation of a borehole radar sensor operating in an oilfield environment. We restrict the radar applicability to environments where the radar investigation depth can fit the reservoir size necessary to be monitored. Potential applications are steam chamber monitoring in steam assisted gravity drainage processes and water front monitoring in thin oil rim environments. A more sophisticated analysis of the limits of a radar system is carried out through 2D finite‐difference time‐domain simulations. The metal components of the wellbore casing can cause destructive interference with the emitted signal. A high dielectric medium surrounding the production well increases the amplitude of the signal and so the radar performance. Other reservoir constraints are given by the complexity of the reservoir and the dynamic of the fluids. Time‐lapse changes in the heterogeneity of the background formation strongly affect the retrieval of the target reflections and gradual fluid saturation changes reduce the amplitudes of the reflections.
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Post‐stack stratigraphic inversion workflow applied to carbon dioxide storage: application to the saline aquifer of Sleipner field‡
Authors Nicolas Delépine, Vincent Clochard, Karine Labat and Patrice RicarteABSTRACTIn the Norwegian North Sea, the Sleipner field produces gas with a high CO2 content. For environmental reasons, since 1996, more than 11 Mt of this carbon dioxide (CO2) have been injected in the Utsira Sand saline aquifer located above the hydrocarbon reservoir. A series of seven 3D seismic surveys were recorded to monitor the CO2 plume evolution. With this case study, time‐lapse seismics have been shown to be successful in mapping the spread of CO2 over the past decade and to ensure the integrity of the overburden.
Stratigraphic inversion of seismic data is currently used in the petroleum industry for quantitative reservoir characterization and enhanced oil recovery. Now it may also be used to evaluate the expansion of a CO2 plume in an underground reservoir. The aim of this study is to estimate the P‐wave impedances via a Bayesian model‐based stratigraphic inversion.
We have focused our study on the 1994 vintage before CO2 injection and the 2006 vintage carried out after a CO2 injection of 8.4 Mt. In spite of some difficulties due to the lack of time‐lapse well log data on the interest area, the full application of our inversion workflow allowed us to obtain, for the first time to our knowledge, 3D impedance cubes including the Utsira Sand. These results can be used to better characterize the spreading of CO2 in a reservoir. With the post‐stack inversion workflow applied to CO2 storage, we point out the importance of the a priori model and the issue to obtain coherent results between sequential inversions of different seismic vintages. The stacking velocity workflow that yields the migration model and the a priori model, specific to each vintage, can induce a slight inconsistency in the results.
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Insight into the marine controlled‐source electromagnetic signal propagation
More LessABSTRACTIn marine controlled‐source electromagnetic (CSEM) surveys the subsurface is explored by emitting low‐frequency signals from an electric dipole source close to the sea‐bed. The main goal is often to detect and describe possible thin resistive layers beneath the sea‐bed. To gain insight into how CSEM signals propagate, it is informative to study a stratified model. The electromagnetic field is then given in terms of integrals over TE‐ and TM‐polarized plane‐wave constituents. An asymptotic evaluation of the field integrals for large propagation distances results in explicit spatial expressions for the field components and the derived expressions can be used to analyse how the CSEM signals propagate. There are two major signal pathways in a standard CSEM model. One of these pathways is via the thin resistive layer and the resulting response is accounted for by a pole in the reflection response for the TM mode. The signal is propagating nearly vertically down to the resistor from the source, then guided while attenuated along the reservoir, before propagating nearly vertically up to the receiver. The response is slightly altered by the sea‐bed interface and further modified in shallow water due to multiple reflections between the sea‐surface and sea‐bed at both the source and receiver sides. The other major signal pathway is via the resistive air half‐space, the so‐called airwave. The airwave is generated by the TE mode and interacts with the subsurface via vertically propagating signals reflected between the sea‐surface and subsurface at both the source and receiver sides.
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Applying essentially non‐oscillatory interpolation to controlled‐source electromagnetic modelling*
Authors M. Wirianto, W.A. Mulder and E.C. SlobABSTRACTModelling and inversion of controlled‐source electromagnetic (CSEM) fields requires accurate interpolation of modelled results near strong resistivity contrasts. There, simple linear interpolation may produce large errors, whereas higher‐order interpolation may lead to oscillatory behaviour in the interpolated result. We propose to use the essentially non‐oscillatory, piecewise polynomial interpolation scheme designed for piecewise smooth functions that contains discontinuities in the function itself or in its first or higher derivatives. The scheme uses a non‐linear adaptive algorithm to select a set of interpolation points that represent the smoothest part of the function among the sets of neighbouring points.
We present numerical examples to demonstrate the usefulness of the scheme. The first example shows that the essentially non‐oscillatory interpolation (ENO) scheme better captures an isolated discontinuity. In the second example, we consider the case of sampling the electric field computed by a finite‐volume CSEM code at a receiver location. In this example, the ENO interpolation performs quite well. However, the overall error is dominated by the discretization error. The other examples consider the comparison between sampling with essentially non‐oscillatory interpolation and existing interpolation schemes. In these examples, essentially non‐oscillatory interpolation provides more accurate results than standard interpolation, especially near discontinuities.
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Comparing gravity and gravity gradient surveys
Authors Gary J. Barnes, John M. Lumley, Phill I. Houghton and Richard J. GleaveABSTRACTNoise levels in marine and airborne full tensor gravity gradiometer surveys together with conventional land, marine and airborne gravity surveys are estimated and analysed in gridded form, resulting in relations that detail how these different survey systems can be compared analytically. After defining survey parameters including line spacing, speed and instrument bandwidth, the relations estimate the noise levels that result on either grids of gravity (gz) or gravity gradient (Gzz) as a function of the spatial filtering often applied during geological interpretation. Such comparisons are believed to be a useful preliminary guide for survey selection and planning.
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A generalized derivative operator for potential field data‡
Authors G.R.J. Cooper and D.R. CowanABSTRACTThe enhancement of potential field data using filters based on horizontal and vertical derivatives is common. As well as the direct use of the gradients themselves they are used in filters such as sunshading, total horizontal derivative, analytic signal, horizontal and vertical tilt angles, the Theta map and other filters. These techniques are high‐pass filters of different types and so enhance noise as well as detail in the data. A new derivative operator is introduced in this paper, which generalizes the effects of some of the previously mentioned filters. This filter is a linear combination of the horizontal and vertical field derivatives, normalized by the analytic signal amplitude. The filter is demonstrated on aeromagnetic and gravity data from South Africa.
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Volumes & issues
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