Using Time Domain Seismic Data for History Matching Processes

Sophisticated workflows have been designed to build reservoir models consistent with geology, production history and also seismic attributes. Seismic attributes are usually expressed as a function of depth. In such a case, their integration of in matching workflows is straightforward as reservoir grids depend on depth. This approach relies on a basic assumption: the velocity model used to transfer seismic data from time to depth domain is fixed for once, whatever the perturbation applied to the geological model during the history matching process. Moreover, the resolution of this model is usually low. Therefore, we propose to integrate the seismic data given as a function of time instead of depth. As fluid flow simulators yield saturation and pressure values over the reservoir grid, the corresponding seismic attributes are first computed against depth. Then, they are transfered from depth to time domain thanks to the fine resolution velocity model derived from the petro-elastic model. Thus, the depth to time conversion step is fully integrated in the history-matching loop. A numerical example is presented to stress the potential of the proposed methodology. The results are compared to the ones derived from a more conventional workflow involving seismic data against depth.