Seismic and Image Log Data Integration; a New Approach to Reservoir Quality Evaluation

Frass, Manfred ¹
(1)Weatherford Intl., Houston, TX.

3D Seismic, is the lowest vertical resolution data available to start with any reservoir characterization study and on the other hand, image logs are a data source with the highest vertical resolution used to perform detailed analysis of a reservoir. The lateral coverage is best achieved with the 3D seismic and is mostly the only data available, while the image logs are restricted to the well drilled within the area covered by the seismic. So, in order to integrate both data sets different processes have been developed and are applied on a daily bases, and in the past were limited to big features like tops, structural dip, or any other structural feature, present along the interval intersected by the well trajectory. From the image logs, now new data can be derived like a curve defining a sorting index of a sand sequence, or define the grain sizes of the sand sequence, or a permeability curve derived from the grain size distribution within a sand sequence, all these curves could be used to guide inversion processes of seismic data, in order to generate 3D volumes representing these parameters which were not available before, or were just points derived from cores along standard logs, but not on a continuous log. This new methodology opens now the possibility to generate these 3D volumes, integrating the two most different vertical resolution data sets of sub surface evaluation of reservoir quality.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90135©2011 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Milan, Italy, 23-26 October 2011.