A new integrated interpretation and visualization tool has been designed by StatoilHydro and Landmark to predict rock type (lithology) and fluid variations from three-dimensional seismic and well data. This will enable asset teams to evaluate prospects rapidly, improve reservoir property prediction and reduce uncertainty.
One way to reduce vast amounts of seismic information to more manageable volumes is to use an averaging technique known as stacking. Although data stacking increases the signal-to-noise ratio and reduces the size of datasets by a factor of at least 10, it is impossible to recover all relevant information once it has been done.
Seismic lithology and fluid prediction (LFP) analysis has largely been carried out ad hoc by oil company specialists because standard seismic interpretation software faces limitations in accessing and handling vital pre-stack seismic data.
A seismic line is selected from a reservoir map where it passes through a subject well (well A) and displayed as a stacked seismic cross-section (upper). The new integrated LFP software (lower) is then invoked to display all relevant seismic and well data pertaining to that well. Armed with this wealth of information, geoscientists can rapidly generate seismic attributes to improve their determination of features such as oil/water contacts and reservoir rock fluid contents (in this case, sandstone). Abbreviations used: sand – sandstone; Sw – water saturation; PhiT – porosity; Vp – pressure wave velocity; Vs – shear wave velocity; Rhob – density.
Over the past few years, StatoilHydro geophysicists have been working with Landmark to develop a new tool capable of being run on classic workstations for integrated interpretation of pre-stack seismic and well data.
