Rock Physics and Time-lapse Seismic Analysis of Thermal Heavy Oil Production

This study outlines the workflow implemented to quantify changes in reservoir conditions due to steam injection and production of an Athabasca Oil Sands bitumen reservoir. A holistic approach to interpretation was implemented, encompassing unconsolidated rock physics modelling, seismic pre-conditioning, 4D low-frequency modelling, pre-stack 4D simultaneous AVO inversion, and rock physics driven probabilistic lithology classification to separate our elastic changes into steam or gas, water, and mobile oil. Ultimately, the identification of various production related effects such as steam chamber development and mobile oil leads to improved reservoir optimization opportunities, allowing for an increase in bitumen production.