High Resolution Imaging and Reservoir Characterization of Complex Thin Tertiary Yegua Sands in Texas

A unique resolution enhancement with bandwidth extension technique using the Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) and harmonics principle is described. Applying this technique the available bandwidth in the seismic data, the phase and amplitude spectra of harmonics and sub-harmonics can be computed. These harmonic and sub-harmonic frequencies are then convolved onto the recorded seismic data. Only frequencies for reflectivity that is above the ambient noise level in the CWT domain is added to the seismic wavelet. This process which can be applied before and after migration broadens the bandwidth of the signal which increases the seismic resolution. A holistic workflow of rigorous prestack data conditioning, bandwidth extension, petrophysical evaluation, and simultaneous three-term prestack inversion was applied to resolve and characterize the complex thin Yegua reservoirs in Texas along the coast of Gulf of Mexico. The benefit of high resolution processing and high resolution inversion was demonstrated using real data in this paper for better thin sands detection, reservoir characterization, well planning, and field management in a complicated geological setting.