Extended Elastic

Impedance using HRS-9

Brian Russell

Hampson-Russell,
A CGGVeritas Company


Introduction
In a recent SEG Distinguished Lecture, Patrick Connolly
outlined BPs company-wide approach to fluid and lithology
prediction using seismic data.
The cornerstones of this approach are the Coloured
Inversion (CI) and Extended Elastic Impedance (EEI)
methods.
This talk will first present a general framework for pre-stack
and post-stack inversion methods.
I will then review the principles of EEI inversion within this
framework.
Finally, I will show how the EEI method has been
implemented in HRS-9, using both model-based and
coloured inversion
2
Inversion in general
The above flowchart shows the general approach to seismic
trace inversion, which involves a geological model, a seismic
volume and an inversion algorithm. We can apply the method
to either pre- or post-stack seismic data.
Geological
Model
Seismic
Volume
Inversion
Algorithm
Inverted Seismic
Volume
3
Post-stack inversion
The earliest trace inversion approach involved building an AI
(acoustic impedance, or V
P
) model and inverting the stacked
volume to create an AI output.

AI Model
Volume
Stacked
Volume
Inversion
Algorithm
AI
Inversion
4
Model building
Building a model volume involves the following steps:
Create the log property of interest at each well location
and insert it into the model (in this case, we create
acoustic impedance by multiplying V
P
by density).
Make sure the well logs match the seismic data in time
by performing correlation with an extracted wavelet.
Interpolate the logs using an algorithm such as
inverse-distance weighting or kriging.
Insert the seismic picks to guide the interpolation
structurally.
Apply a low pass filter (typically 0 15 Hz) so that the
detail in the inversion will come from the seismic data.
5
6
Recursive: Bandlimited inversion, in which the seismic trace is
integrated and added to the low frequency part
of the model.
Model Based: Iteratively updates the initial model to find a best fit
to the synthetic.
Sparse Spike: Constrained to produce as few events as
possible, with the low frequency model added in.
Coloured: Spectrum of seismic data is shaped to the well log
spectrum and a 90 degree phase shift applied. In the
standard implementation, no low frequencies are added
back (relative impedance) but in our implementation we
can add them back (absolute impedance).
These post-stack inversion methods are available in HRS-9:
Types of inversion algorithms
Gas sand stack
7
For example, here is a stack over a gas sand from Alberta,
showing a bright-spot anomaly.
8
Post-stack inversion
AI
AI
AI
= R
AI
2
A
Here is the acoustic impedance inversion of the previous
stack. The gas sand is a low impedance event, which is
ambiguous because the shales are also low impedance.
Note that the seismic reflectivity can be written as the AI
difference divided by twice its average:
Pre-stack simultaneous inversion
A more recent inversion approach is to build AI (V
P
), SI (V
S
)
and density () models and invert the seismic angle gathers
simultaneously. The next two slides show the gathers and the
pre-stack inversion result.

AI, SI and
models
Angle
gathers
Simultaneous
inversion
AI, SI and
density volumes
9
The seismic gathers
The seismic
line is the
stack of a
series of CMP
gathers, as
shown here.
Here is a portion of a 2D
seismic line showing the
gas sand bright-spot.
The gas sand is
a typical Class 3
AVO anomaly.
10
11
AI
Vp/Vs
Pre-stack simultaneous inversion
Note the unambiguous low Vp/Vs ratio at the gas sand.
12
A very robust AVO
method involves
analyzing near and
far angle stacks, as
shown here.

Note the amplitude
of the bright-spot
event is stronger on
the far-angle stack
than it is on the
near-angle stack.

But what does this
mean?
Near and far trace stacks
Near angle (0-15
o
) stack

Far angle (15-30
o
) stack

13
Elastic Impedance
The equivalent impedance method to near and far angle
stacking is Elastic Impedance, or EI (Connolly,1999).
To understand EI, recall the Aki-Richards equation:
. sin 4 1 and , sin 8 , tan 1
: where ,
2 2 2
) (
2 2 2
u u u

u
K c K b a
c
V
V
b
V
V
a R
S
S
P
P
P
= = + =
A
+
A
+
A
=
c b
S
a
P EI
V V EI EI
EI
EI
R u u
u
u
u = A ~
A
= ) ( where , ) ( ln
2
1
) (
) (
2
1
) (
Connolly postulated that associated with this equation is
an underlying elastic impedance, written (where I have re-
named the EI reflectivity to match the AI concept):
Elastic impedance inversion
The inversion approach for EI involves building an EI(u) model
and inverting an angle stack volume at an angle u to create an
EI output.

EI(u) Model
Volume
Angle Stack
Volume
Inversion
Algorithm
EI(u)
Inversion
14
15
Here is the
comparison
between the EI
inversions of the
near-angle stack
and far-angle
stack.

Notice the
decrease in the
elastic impedance
value on the far-
angle stack.
Gas sand case study
EI(7.5
o
)
EI(22.5
o
)
The figures show the (a) crossplot between near and far EI logs, and (b) the
zones on the logs. Notice the clear indication of the gas sand (yellow).
EI from logs
(a) (b)
EI_Near EI_Far
16
17
Gas sand case study
This figure shows a crossplot between
EI (7.5
o
) and EI (22.5
o
). The
background trend is the grey ellipse,
and the anomaly is the yellow ellipse.
As shown below, the yellow zone
corresponds to the known gas sand.
EI at 7.5
o

E
I

a
t

2
2
.
5
o


18
Scaled Elastic Impedance
One of the problems with EI is the fact that the values do
not scale correctly for different angles.
This is due to the variable dimensionality found by raising
the velocity and density terms to increasing powers.
Whitcombe (2002), proposed solving this by scaling the EI
equation as follows:
constants. reference are and , , where
, ) (
0 0 0
sin 4 1
0
sin 8
0
tan 1
0
0 0
2 2 2

u
u u u
S P
K K
S
S
P
P
P
V V
V
V
V
V
V EI
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
+
This also leads us to extended elastic impedance (EEI).
But first we need to review the intercept/gradient method.
The Intercept/Gradient method
The Intercept/Gradient method is an approach to AVO which
involves re-arranging the Aki-Richards equation to:
: wher e , tan si n si n ) (
2 2 2
u u u u C B A R
P
+ + =
This is again a weighted reflectivity equation with weights
of a = 1, b = sin
2
u, c = sin
2
u tan
2
u.
. and ,
2
,
2
4
2
8
2
,
2 2
2
(

=
A
= =
A

A
=
A
+
A
= =
P
S
p
P
VP
S
S
p
P
p
P
AI
V
V
K
V
V
R C
K
V
V
K
V
V
B
V
V
R A

19
20
Offset
+A

+B

- B
sin
2
u
Time
The Aki-Richards equation
predicts a linear relationship
between these amplitudes and
sin
2
. Regression curves are
calculated to give A

and B
values for each time sample.
The amplitudes are extracted at
all times, two of which are
shown:
-A

The Intercept/Gradient method
21
The result of this
calculation is to
produce 2 basic
attribute volumes
Intercept: A

Gradient: B
The Intercept/Gradient method
Extended Elastic Impedance
As the next step from scaled EI, Whitcombe et al.
(2002) introduced Extended Elastic Impedance, or EEI.
First, they replaced the sin
2
u term in the two-term Aki-
Richards equation with tan_, to give the following
expression for EEI reflectivity, R
EEI
.
22
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ u u
sin cos cos ) ( ) (
tan ) ( sin ) (
2
B A R R
B A R B A R
EEI
P
+ = =
+ = + =
Notice that EEI will equal acoustic impedance at _ = 0
o

and gradient impedance (GI) at _ = 90
o
. The limits of _
are + and - 90
o
.
Extended Elastic Impedance
This leads to the extended elastic impedance expression,
which involves substituting the EEI(_) reflectivity expression
into the scaled elastic impedance expression, to give:
Different values of _ correlate with various rock properties,
as shown on the next slide.
. sin 4 cos
, sin 8
, sin cos where
, ) (
0 0 0
0 0
_ _
_
_ _

u
K r
K q
p
V
V
V
V
V EEI
r q
S
S
p
P
P
P
=
=
+ =
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
23
Extended Elastic Impedance
Figure (a) shows EEI values at different angles and figure (b) compares
elastic parameters to their equivalent EEI curves.
Whitcombe et al. (2002)
(a)
(b)
24
Vp/Vs
EEI(45
o
)

EEI(19
o
)
K
EEI(10
o
)

EEI(-58
o
)
Vs
EEI(-45
o
)
EEI inversion
The EEI inversion approach involves building an EEI(_) model
and inverting the EEI(_) volume using an inversion algorithm
to create an EEI output.

EEI(_) Model
Volume
EEI(_)
Volume
Inversion
Algorithm
EEI(_)
Inversion
25
Implementation in HRS-9
Now that we have discussed the theory of EEI, lets see
how to implement the process in HRS-9.
The process involves four steps:
Choose a target log and find the optimum _ angle.
Build the log parameter model.
Compute the EEI(_) seismic volume from the
intercept and gradient.
Perform the inversion.
We have recently built this functionality into HRS-9.
Since the process involves a number of steps, we will first
build a Workflow.
26
27
Creating an EEI Workflow
We start by creating a new workflow Group Name and then
start the Workflow Builder.
EEI Workflow
The workflow is built by moving processes from the Process to
the Workflow list. The final Workflow is on the right.
28
Gas sand case study
We will now apply this Workflow to the dataset just
described.
As our target log, we have chosen the Vp/Vs ratio.
Note that this will produce the same output as pre-
stack simultaneous inversion.
However, the approach will be different since we are
building an EEI model and inverting the rotated
intercept and gradient stacks.
In both cases, we are using the pre-stack data as
input, rather than the post-stack data.
We will apply both model-based and coloured
inversion.
29
First, use the AVO Attribute Volume option to create A and B:
30
Creating A and B volumes
This display is the
product of A and B:
31
Correlation plot
We then find the maximum correlation value, which is at 39
o

with a correlation coefficient of close to 1.00. In this case,
almost any value between 30
o
and 60
o
would work reasonably
well. However, in some cases there is a clear peak.
A good display option is the EEI Spectrum, which shows the
EEI computation for every angle between -90
o
and +90
o
.
32
EEI log spectrum
Next, we compute the EEI log at _ = 39
o
. It closely resembles
the Vp/Vs ratio log but the units are impedance.
33
EEI log curve at _ = 39
o
Vp/Vs
Ratio
EEI at
39
o
Vs Density Vp
EEI model
Next, we compute the EEI reflectivity section, as shown above
(Note: R
EEI
(39
o
) = A*cos(39
o
) + B*sin(39
o
))
34
EEI model
The next step is to create the filtered EEI model:
35
EEI wavelet
We then
extract the
statistical
wavelet from
the EEI
reflectivity:
36
EEI inversion analysis
The results of post-stack inversion analysis are shown here:
37
Model-based EEI inversion
Model-based inversion with the EEI log is shown here:
38
The gas sand zone is well defined but the units are impedance.
Model-based EEI inversion
Here, we scaled to Vp/Vs units using a single scaler:
39
Now the gas sand zone has the correct low Vp/Vs values.
Coloured EEI inversion
Alternately, we apply coloured inversion, with relative scaling.
40
Note we still have an excellent definition of the gas sand.
Conclusions
This presentation has been an overview of the extended
elastic impedance (EEI) approach using HRS-9.
I first reviewed post and pre-stack inversion methods.
I then discussed EEI theory and how the general inversion
method could be modified to implement EEI inversion.
I then showed how to find an optimum _ angle to create the
EEI section. I chose Vp/Vs ratio as the target log.
I then showed how to create the EEI section in HRS-9.
Next, I created the inverted Vp/Vs volume, using both
model-based and coloured inversion.
Both of the EEI inversion methods gave us excellent
definition of the gas sand zone, comparable to pre-stack
inversion.
41