QAB 4013

Rock Physics and AVO Analysis

- Seismic Inversion-

Dr. Maman Hermana

 The Seismic Experiment
Interaction of Geology & Geophysics

Depth GEOLOGICAL
SEISMIC SOURCE
Km STRUCTURE

Courtesy GX Technology
 Forward & Inverse Seismic Problem
START END

ACQUISITION  Structure
SYSTEMS  Velocity
 Rock, Fluid, Lithology
t
MODELLING

WAVELET

INVERSION
RECOVER
GEOLOGY
EARTH PROPOGATION
EFFECT

t
* DECONVOLVE
CONVOLVE
*
EARTH MODEL
• Vp, Vs, ρ
• Porosity SEISMIC RESPONSE
• Structure
• Saturation
Seismic Trace

MODEL ING

AI(t) RC(t) W(t) S(t)

2V2  1V1
Rc 
2V2  1V1
 *  

I NV E R S I O N

AI : Acoustic impedance RC : Reflection coefficient

W : Wavelet S : Seismic trace
AI and Seismic Data in Time and
Frequency Domain
Where Does It Fit in the E & P
Workflow
From Rock Properties to
Reservoir Properties
What is P-Impedance
 P-Impedance is:
◦ Measure for the hardness of the rock
◦ Density * Velocity
◦ [kg/m3*m/s]
◦ [g/cc*ft/s]

 P-Impedance is also known as acoustic

impedance (AI)
Common P-Impedance
Relationships
 P-Imp to Porosity (in clean carbonates)
 P-Imp to Net Pay (in gas sands)
◦ z * * N:G
 P-Imp to Net HC Pore Volume ( in Oil
sands):
 z * * N:G * SHc
 P-Imp to Recoverable Oil/Gas…
 Porosity to Permeability? If the relationship
exists!
How Can we Measure P-Imp?
P-Impedance Identifies the
Reservoir
Inversion
Bodychecking
Which Inversion
 Acoustic Impedance Inversion (full stack)
 Simultaneous AVO inversion (pre stack)
 Geostatistical Inversion (full /prestack)
Acoustic Impedance Inversion
Workflow
Tie Wells to Seismic & Wavelet
Estimation
Full Bandwidth Inversion
Merging Different Sources of
Information
Low frequency AI model
(0-10Hz) Seismic + Low Frequency
Trend (0-3Hz) AI Model (0-60Hz)
Amplitude

Well AI spectrum

Seismic Bandwidth

0 20 40 60 80
Frequency (Hz)
Impedance Information
Band-Limited vs Full Bandwidth
Importance of Trend Model
Benefits of Inversion vs Reflection
Data
1. P-Imp is a Layer Property
2. Removal of Artifacts
3. Enhanced Resolution
5. Better Drilling Decisisons
Full Stack or Partial Stack Inversion?
Amplitude Versus Angle (AVA)
Simultaneous Inversion of AVO
Seismic Data
Simultaneous Inversion Benefits
Resolution of Full Stack Vs
Simultaneous
Lithology Separation with
Simultaneous Inversion
Inversion history
 Early inversions were limited to post-
stack data.
 In recent years, inversion has been
combined with pre-stack AVO analysis,
known as Simultaneous Inversion.
 Current inversion technology has
shifted attention to the quality of the
input seismic data, and the model
building.
Seismic Inversion Methods
 Impedance Displays
Post-stack seismic inversion transforms an
input seismic volume into a volume of
acoustic impedance.
 General Forward Model for
Inversion
Reflectivity Seismic

Seismic = Wavelet convolved

with Reflectivity plus noise.

 Notes
 There are no multiples modeled.
 Transmission loss and geometric spreading
are ignored.
 Frequency-dependent absorption is ignored.
 The wavelet may be time varying.
 General Forward Model for
Inversion

 The effect of
convolving the
wavelet with the
reflectivity is to
remove much of the
high frequency detail:
 Convolution in the
time domain is
multiplication in the
frequency domain.
 As we can see from
these plots, the effect
of the wavelet is to
remove both high and
low frequencies from
the trace spectrum.
 Theoretically, inversion
attempts to recover
these lost regions.
Non-Uniqueness in Inversion
inversions
 Model Based Inversion Flow
Load wells
Gather necessary inputs: Import seismic
Import or pick seismic horizons

Correlate well depths to Extract wavelets

Seismic times: Correlate each well

Select Inversion Type and Parameters

Build low frequency
Scale model and seismic.
model:
QC Inversion results at well locations

Inversion Analysis: Use well logs and horizons to replace the low
frequencies not recorded by the seismic.

Perform Inversion: Using values determined in the Analysis

Interpret Result QC areal variations

Create data slices
 Correlation and Wavelets
 The initial guess model
for each trace consists of
an impedance log, usually
derived by multiplying a
real sonic log by a real
density log. The
impedance log model
must be measured in 2-
way travel time but the
original logs are measured
in depth.
 A critical step is
correlation of well-depth
to seismic-time:
 The default depth-time table calculated from the
sonic log is never exactly correct because:
◦ The seismic datum and log datum may be different.
◦ The shallowest velocities are not logged.
◦ Noise in the sonic log velocities produce cumulative
errors in the calculated travel-times.
◦ The events on the seismic data may be mispositioned
due to imperfect processing.
 Log correlation is the process of applying a
manual correction to the well depth-time curve
to optimize the correlation between well depths
and seismic times.
 wavelets
 The wavelet is defined
completely by its
amplitude spectrum and
its phase spectrum:

 Over a limited
frequency range, the
phase spectrum may
often be approximated
by a straight line.
These wavelets both have the same amplitude
spectrum, but different (constant) phase spectra:
Effect different wavelet on seismic
 Wavelets in the earth vary in space (including by
offset/angle) and in time for a several reasons:
◦ Near surface effects
◦ Frequency-dependent absorption i.e. decreasing
bandwidth with increasing depth
◦ Inter-bed multiples
◦ NMO stretch
◦ Offset or angle
 Wavelets are used for 4 types of processes:
◦ Creating synthetics.
◦ Log correlation.
◦ Inversion.
◦ Inserted items in seismic displays.
 Wavelet is very important
 Procedure:
◦ Use statistical wavelet extraction to determine
a preliminary wavelet.
◦ Stretch/squeeze the logs to tie the seismic data.
◦ Extract a new wavelet using the well logs.
◦ Possibly repeat the previous two steps.

NOT to change the sonic log, but only the

depth-time curve.
Which one the good one?
 Model Building
 Seismic data does not contain the low frequencies
needed for to recover absolute impedances
through inversion.
 These can be provided by well logs which record
both lower and higher frequency data than seismic.
Seismic Frequency Content
Well Log Frequency Content
 Creaeing model from well
If more than one well?
 Effect of model on inversion result

 Problems with jittery picks

 Model Based Inversion
 we only need the frequencies from the
well(s) that are not present in the seismic
 So to ensure that the detail in the inversion
output is derived from the seismic, the log
impedance curve is filtered to retain only the
low frequencies.
 The low-pass-filtered well impedance is
therefore the starting point for the model-
based algorithm

Low-pass filtered P-impedance log

P-impedance log
 QC inversion result
 To evaluate the
accuracy:
1. The fit (or error)
between the real
well impedance in
blue and the
inversion
impedance in red.

2. The difference
between the real
seismic and the
synthetic seismic
that is created from
the inversion
impedance.
QC using well log data

 Focus on zone of interest

 Well log need to be filtered with
seismic bandwidth
 Iterations and Well Error
 error

Iteration Number
 Sparse Spike inversion

 Sparse Spike Inversion assumes

that the actual reflectivity can be
thought of as a series of large
spikes embedded in a
background of small spikes.

 Sparse Spike Inversion assumes

that only the large spikes are
meaningful. It finds the location
of these large spikes by
examining the seismic trace.
 Maximum-Likelihood Sparse Spike
Inversion

 Maximum Likelihood Sparse Spike Inversion builds up the reflectivity sequence one
spike at a time. Spikes are added until the trace is modeled accurately enough.

 The amplitudes of the impedance blocks are determined using the Model Based
Inversion algorithm; with the locations of the ‘blocks’ determined by MLSS.
 Spike Detection Threshold
As each spike is added, its amplitude is compared with the average
amplitude of all spikes detected so far. When the new amplitude is less
than a specified fraction of the average, the algorithm stops adding spikes
 Inversion result comparison
 Sparse Spike Inversion produces a result which is
similar to Model Based Inversion.
 A difference is that the very thin layers may be missing or
discontinuous
 Colored Inversion
 Colored Inversion is a modification of Recursive
Inversion, which was originally described by Lancaster
and Whitcombe of BP at the 2000 SEG Convention.
 In this process, there is a single operator, O, which
is applied to the seismic trace S to transform it directly
into the inversion result Z:

 the operator, O, in the frequency domain.

 By examining transforms between seismic data
and actual inversion results,they concluded that
the operator phase is -90 degrees
 First, you must run spectral analysis and create an operator.
 Colored Inversion OUTPUT : Relative impedance or Absolute.

Well spectrum
Seismic spectrum

Operator Result
Inversion result
Issues in Colored Inversion:
 No dependence on an initial model, but
needs a well to determine the impedance-
frequency trend.
 Very fast to apply.
 Assumes the data is zero-phase.
 Produces a result similar to Recursive
Inversion, but with higher frequency
content and better scaling.