Chapter 5.

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167

by soft marine shale of acoustic impedance similar to, but in fact even slightly lower Fig. 5-21. A dim spot from
a known gas reservoir
than, the gas sands. Hence, the amplitude of the reflection from the unconformity dims offshore Trinidad.
as an indication of the truncating gas reservoirs. Tilbury and Smith (1988) discuss the (Courtesy Texaco
geology and seismic modeling in support of this interpretation. Trinidad Inc.)
Figures 5-24, 5-25, 5-26 and 5-27 illustrate a phase change; all four figures are exactly
the same piece of data displayed with different colors and gains. Figure 5-24 uses the
standard blue and red gradational scheme and the amplitude anomaly is clearly visible.
Its visibility is perhaps enhanced further by the yellow, green and gray color scheme of
Figure 5-25. In order to check for a phase change, or polarity reversal, it is necessary to
judge the structural continuity from the bright reflections to their lower-amplitude
 Chapter 5.qxd
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5/4/04
10:38 AM
Page 168
Fig. 5-22. Dim spots
from Goodwyn gas field,
Northwest Shelf,
Australia, caused by
gas sands truncating at
an unconformity overlain
by soft marine shale.
(Courtesy Woodside
Offshore Petroleum Pty.,
BP Development
Australia Ltd., BHP
Petroleum Pty. Ltd.,
Shell Development
[Australia] Pty. Ltd.,
California Asiatic Oil
Company, Japan
Australia LNG [MIMI]
Pty. Ltd., and Woodside
Petroleum Ltd.)
 Chapter 5.qxd
3/19/04
12:54 PM
Page 169
Fig. 5-23. Dim spot from Goodwyn
gas field, Northwest Shelf,
Australia, targeted as drilling
location. (Courtesy Woodside
Offshore Petroleum Pty., BP
Development Australia Ltd., BHP
Petroleum Pty. Ltd., Shell
Development [Australia] Pty. Ltd.,
California Asiatic Oil Company,
Japan Australia LNG [MIMI] Pty.
Ltd., and Woodside Petroleum Ltd.)

169
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170

Fig. 5-24. (Top) Gulf of Mexico bright spot displayed in Fig. 5-25. (Bottom) Same bright spot as Figure 5-24
gradational blue and red with the gain set to maximize displayed in yellow, green and gray also in order to
visual dynamic range and hence increase prominence of increase the prominence of the amplitude anomaly.
the amplitude anomaly. (Courtesy Chevron U.S.A. Inc.) (Courtesy Chevron U.S.A. Inc.)
Chapter 5.qxd 3/19/04 12:55 PM Page 171
Fig. 5-26. (Top) Same bright spot and color scheme as
Figure 5-24 but with the gain increased to study the
continuity of reflections off the flank of the bright spot. Blue
correlates with red and vice versa downdip indicating a
phase change or polarity reversal at the edge of the bright
spot. (Courtesy Chevron U.S.A. Inc.)
171
Fig. 5-27. (Bottom) Same bright spot as Figure 5-24, same
color scheme as Figure 5-25 and same gain as Figure 5-26.
The correlation of reflections downdip from the bright spot
again indicates a phase change at the edge of the
reservoir. (Courtesy Chevron U.S.A. Inc.)
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172

Fig. 5-28. Phase change

(polarity reversal) caused equivalents downdip. There is a very great difference in amplitude between these, caus-
by gas in unconsolidated
sandstone of the Gulf of
ing a great difference in color intensity. Figures 5-26 and 5-27 use the same colors respec-
Mexico. Data are zero tively as Figures 5-24 and 5-25 but with a higher gain applied to the data. This makes it
phase European easier to judge the downdip continuity on the left of the bright spot and hence to observe
polarity.(Courtesy Conoco that red correlates with blue (Figure 5-26) and green correlates with yellow (Figure 5-27).
Inc.) In this way a polarity reversal is established.
Figures 5-28 and 5-29 show striking phase changes (polarity reversals) respectively in
the Gulf of Mexico and on the Northwest Shelf of Australia. The two data sets are oppo-
site polarity from each other. Figure 5-28 shows the gas, which is low impedance, as
blue-over-red; this indicates European polarity. Figure 5-29 shows the gas as red-over-
blue, which is American polarity. Figure 5-28 shows the gas contained by a fault on the
west and the phase change on the east. Figure 5-29 shows the gas contained by a fault on
the east and the phase change on the west. Some interpreters may feel inclined to identi-
fy both these phase changes as faults antithetic to the main faults. However, with experi-
ence the phase change explanation emerges as preferable. Structural/stratigraphic con-
flicts like this one are common and interpreters need to overcome their bias towards the
structural solution.
Figure 5-30 shows the very unusual observation of a polarity reversal on the sea
floor. With American polarity data, the blue reflection (with flanking red side lobes)
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173

Fig. 5-29. Phase change

(polarity reversal) caused
by gas on the Northwest
Shelf of Australia. Data
are zero phase American
polarity. (Courtesy West
Australian Petroleum Pty.
Ltd.)

Fig. 5-30. Phase change

(polarity reversal) on sea
floor of Caspian Sea
caused by gas-charged
mud volcano. (Courtesy
Azeri International
Operating Co. and Fugro-
Geoteam Limited.)
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174

Fig. 5-31. Horizon slice

showing Gulf of Mexico
channel discussed in
indicates a hard water bottom or an impedance increase. The water bottom over the
Chapter 4. The mud volcano is red, which indicates an impedance decrease. The only reasonable
superimposed structural explanation is that this impedance decrease is caused by a strong velocity decrease
contours indicate that the and a small density increase.
bright part of the channel Figure 5-31 shows a horizon slice indicating a channel. To the northeast the channel is
is shallower than the dim
part. (Courtesy Chevron
bright, to the southwest it is not. The structural contours for this horizon have been
U.S.A. Inc.) superimposed and they demonstrate that the bright part of the channel is structurally
above the dim part. This combination of structural and stratigraphic information helps
validate gas content. Figure 5-32 is another way of graphically illustrating the same rela-
tionship; the representation of the channel in amplitude is superimposed on the struc-
tural configuration of the horizon surface.
The fit of amplitude to structure is a valuable hydrocarbon diagnostic. This is
normally studied by displaying amplitude spatially and overlaying the structural
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175

Fig. 5-32. Combination of

contours. Both Figures 5-33 and 5-34 show some fit of amplitude to structure in this the same horizon amplitude
way. However, it should be remembered that this is just one of several important and structural information
hydrocarbon diagnostics; it is not essential. Luchford (2001) discusses the subject in as Figure 5-31 using
different colors and a three-
detail and presents three examples. dimensional perspective
Figure 5-35 demonstrates gas velocity sag on a flat spot reflection. The trough (red surface. (Courtesy Chevron
event) dipping west between 1560 and 1600 ms should presumably be flat in depth but U.S.A. Inc.)
is depressed in time by the increased travel through the low velocity, wedge-shaped gas
sand. Flat spot dip caused in this way will always be in the opposite direction to struc-
tural dip. Figure 5-36 is another example of gas velocity sag. Here the high amplitudes
are still in blue and red but the lower amplitudes are expressed in gradational gray
tones. This provides the double benefit of highlighting the bright reflections and also
helping establish fault definition by increasing the visibility of low amplitude event ter-
minations. This section also demonstrates another phenomenon: there are bright events
within the reservoir which have little expression outside. This illumination of internal
layering is fairly common in clastic reservoirs and is discussed further in Chapter 7.

The character of paired high-amplitude reflections, red-over-blue or blue-over-red, Polarity and Phase
is an important hydrocarbon diagnostic once the polarity of the data is known. This Problems,
chapter has already presented examples of bright spots in both American and Euro- Multiple Contacts
pean polarity. In Figure 5-37 two high-amplitude blue reflections were tracked and and Transmission
the amplitude extracted to produce two horizon slices. Both high-amplitude patches Effects
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176

Fig. 5-33. Amplitude with

superimposed structural
contours from Mexico.
The downdip edge of the
high amplitude fits
structure. (Courtesy
Pemex.)

Fig. 5-34. Amplitude with

superimposed structural
contours from Mexico.
The updip edge of the
amplitude is a pinch out.
The downdip edge is a
fluid contact. (Courtesy
Pemex.)
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177

were drilled, but one well was successful and the other dry. These data are American Fig. 5-35. Bright spot from
polarity, so red-over-blue indicates a low-impedance layer and blue-over-red indi- a rather thick and
cates a high-impedance layer. A hydrocarbon bright spot can only be caused by low complex gas sand. The
red event dipping right-to-
impedance. left is a flat spot
The majority of the discussion of the detailed character of hydrocarbon reflections displaying gas velocity
so far in this chapter has been of zero-phase character. Unfortunately data phase is sag. (Courtesy Chevron
not always what it is supposed to be. Data processed to zero phase fairly often is close U.S.A. Inc.)
to 90˚ phase. Figure 2-25 shows a 90˚ phase flat spot and associated bright spot. It is
the red and blue reflections together forming the flat spot that best demonstrates the
90˚-phaseness of these data. Figure 2-28 shows the 90˚ phase response of a thin gas
reservoir. The three events for the two interfaces (top and base reservoir) indicate the
90˚-phaseness as discussed in Chapter 2.
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178

Fig. 5-36. Bright spot Figure 5-38 shows a flat spot with 90˚ phase character, yellow-over-red, at the green
showing similar arrow. This is further confused, e.g. by comparison with Figure 2-25, by the fact that here
phenomena to Figure the flat spot appears to be broken into four pieces. This is in fact caused by interference of
5-35; the lower
amplitudes are here strong internal reflections with the fluid contact reflection.
displayed in gray tones. When we observe what appears to be two flat spots (e.g. Figures 2-25 and 5-38) the
(Courtesy Chevron U.S.A. question arises as to whether we could be seeing two fluid contact reflections, for exam-
Inc.) ple gas-oil and oil-water. In fact a fluid contact is always an increase in acoustic
impedance and thus two contacts in the same reservoir will always have the same char-
acter; so one red contact and one blue contact is impossible.
Figure 5-39 shows two flat spots at the green arrows indicating two contacts in an
Indonesian gas reservoir. They are both red. In fact the upper contact is at the base of
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179

Fig. 5-37. Two horizon

slices showing high-
amplitude patches that
were drilled. The arrows
indicate the horizon
tracks used. Both high
amplitudes are blue on
the vertical section but
the natural pairing of top
and base reflections is
different. (Courtesy EnRe
Corporation and Robert
W. Buehler)
Chapter 5.qxd 3/19/04 12:57 PM Page 180

180

Fig. 5-38. Flat spot and

bright spot visible in 90°
producible gas and the lower contact is at the base of trapped gas, perhaps a paleo
phase data from offshore gas-water contact.
China. (Courtesy Bureau Figures 5-40 and 5-41 each show two flat spots from two separate contacts. The upper
of Geophysical one is a gas-oil contact and the lower one an oil-water contact. Note that both fluid con-
Prospecting, People’s tact reflections are blue, as they should be for American polarity zero-phase data. Note
Republic of China.)
the strong structurally dipping reflection separating the upper and lower reservoirs.
They have a common oil-water contact, and the gas-oil contact is only in the upper reser-
voir. The somewhat high amplitude on the top reservoir reflection between the two flat
spots demonstrates a bright response of oil. The difference in amplitude of the oil and the
gas is clear with the higher dynamic range color scheme of Figure 5-41. Clark (1992) and
Greenlee et al. (1994) have both demonstrated bright spots caused by oil.
Figure 5-42 demonstrates a hydrocarbon transmission effect. The amplitude of the
upper reservoir is very strong. This means that a large fraction of the incident energy
is reflected, leaving little energy to be transmitted. This effect causes a marked reduc-
tion in amplitude for the lower reservoir. The coincidence of the high amplitude at the
upper reservoir with lower amplitude at the lower reservoir is confirmed spatially
with the two horizon slices of Figures 5-43 and 5-44.
Chapter 5.qxd 3/19/04 12:57 PM Page 181

181

Fig. 5-39. Two flat spots in same gas reservoir offshore Indonesia indicating
contact at the base of producible gas and at the base of trapped gas.
(Courtesy Atlantic Richfield Bali North Inc.)

Gas reservoirs attenuate high frequencies more than do rocks without gas satura- Use of Frequency,
tion. Following this principle, Taner, Koehler, and Sheriff (1979) have shown that low Amplitude
instantaneous frequency immediately below a suspected reservoir can be a good indi- Variations With
cator of gas. The author has found this to be a rather unreliable indicator; several gas Offset and Shear
reservoirs studied with good data have yielded ambiguous results in instantaneous Waves
frequency. However, a good example where low instantaneous frequency anomalies
indicate gas is shown in Figure 5-45. This lowering of frequency can often be
observed as a simple broadening of the gas reservoir reflections. This is well illustrat-
ed in Figure 5-52.
Interval velocity is reduced if a low-velocity gas sand is included in the interval stud-
ied. For many years RMS velocities derived from normal moveout have been used to
compute interval velocities, and for gross effects and trends this is valuable. However,
the stability of interval velocities gets progressively worse for greater depths and also for
thinner beds. This generally means that interval velocities are not sufficiently accurate to
play a useful role in bright spot validation.
The variation of amplitude with recording offset has become a popular subject
because of the possibility of extracting a significant amount of lithologic information
from this kind of data. However, there are many difficulties both of a theoretical and
practical nature (Backus and Goins, 1984). Among the practical issues, the data are
prestack and hence have a lower signal-to-noise ratio, and, being multidimensional,
there are many possible modes of display.
Ostrander (1984) demonstrated that in many practical cases gas sands show an
increase of amplitude with offset and that this can be used as a means of identifying gas