SPE-169452-MS

3D Seismic Interpretation Techniques for Detecting Oilfield Exploration

Locations
J. Carrasco and R. Garcia, Halliburton

Copyright 2014, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference held in Maracaibo, Venezuela, 21–23 May
2014.

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Abstract
New automated volumetric seismic interpretation techniques have been developed to help reduce cycle
times for exploration and reservoir characterization. At the end of the last century, the introduction of
seismic interpretation methodologies assisted by computer systems facilitated the development of clas-
sical criteria and geological methods for defining the shape of hydrocarbon reservoirs. This latest
development allows for the definition of the structural dimensions of the reservoir to be determined
without requiring the interpretation of the horizons in seismic sections. This automation of seismic
interpretation does not replace the specialist’s experience but contributes to the conceptualization of the
reservoir structure in less time.
These techniques are designed to determine the volume of the reservoir structure by using seismic
geobodies, which define the area and thickness of the reservoir structure. The geobodies are extracted
from a window of seismic amplitudes with dynamic ranges using an opacity filter to capture the strongest
seismic reflectors, which can be negative or positive, depending on the sedimentary environment.
Formation tops from wells are used to correlate the multi-Z components of the geobodies.
The interpretation of the fault system is accomplished by using structural and seismic attributes
(including similarity, semblance, maximum curvature, and amplitude volumes) that highlight the lateral
differences of the seismic trace properties (amplitude, frequency, and phase). These discontinuities can
conform to alignments that reveal fault planes and fracture patterns. The combination of structural seismic
attributes with the original seismic cube (no filter and no gain) provides elements that define the main
reservoir structural alignments. The interpretation of faults defined by structural patterns is performed
without rescaling so as not to lose the three-dimensional (3D) perspective of the fault plane.
Velocity model calibration is important for performing the time-depth conversion of seismic interpre-
tation elements (horizon, fault planes, and seismic volumes). The calculations of the probable seismic
attribute hydrocarbon indicators in the petroleum system analysis allow potential areas of hydrocarbon
entrapment to be identified by structural and stratigraphic contacts.
This methodology has been successfully applied in a conventional reservoir in Mexico’s southern
region.
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Introduction
Seismic interpretation was performed in Mesozoic carbonate sequences in a prospective southern region
of Mexico. This area contains 30 vertical and directional wells, all of which have conventional geophys-
ical logs as gamma ray, electrical, sonic, and density. The seismic volume comprises a pre-migration
seismic with a vertical resolution of 60 m. The structural framework of the field is governed by a system
trend compressional faults NE-SW. These seismic interpretation techniques aimed to determine the
volume of the reservoir structure using seismic geobodies, which define the area and thickness of the
structure.
The combination of geometric seismic attributes allows defining the main structural pattern. Calibra-
tion of the velocity model can transfer the entire seismic element to the depth domain.
Integration of the petrophysical evaluation, the seismic attributes, the historical production statistics,
and the petroleum system analysis allows potential areas of hydrocarbon entrapment to be detected by
structural and stratigraphic contacts. This can reduce the uncertainty of potential geological exploration
opportunities and help expand possible hydrocarbon reserves.
The statistical volume is calculated by the 3D cells conforming to arrangements of the simulation layers
to estimate potential reserves of the hydrocarbon deposit. Finally, the geocellular model undergoes
scaling, which is focused to a numerical simulation study of the oil reservoir. The 3D seismic interpre-
tation methodology is divided into two stages: reservoir architecture and 3D reservoir modeling.

Reservoir Architecture
Geological Data Management
The administration of geological information into valid data is essential for obtaining accurate results in
optimization work aimed at exploring hydrocarbon reservoirs, especially in an environment where
computer systems converge data for practical analysis for geoscience and reservoir engineering specialist.
As such, proper management of the geological database is essential. The digital geological elements are
important keys for building the geocellular 3D model (Fig. 1).
Reservoir Seismic Interpretation
The challenge of obtaining reservoir geometry should be considered a macroscopic perception of 3D
seismic analyses. In this stage, the seismic window is determined, which comprises the gross thickness of
the reservoir. This procedure is used to extract geo-anomalies with seismic criteria in the contrasting
character of amplitude.
The polarity of the amplitudes must establish two sets of geo-anomalies that allow for displaying the
surface and vertical extent of the reservoir (Fig. 2).
The variability of geo-anomalies allows selecting the highest distribution of the seismic window to
obtain the correlation pattern of the seismic reflector. These geo-anomalies groups are characterized by
seismic events, which generate multi-Z properties.
The result is a stacked seismic reflector with the same ranges of amplitudes. To rank each seismic
reflector, the formation tops must be matched, which are determined from well logs and core samples. It
is necessary to generate a seismic volume, filtering the locations of the seismic events (Fig. 3).
There are areas where the seismic reflector is not sufficient for seismic interpretation. In such a case,
it is necessary to interpret the structure of the reservoir by seismic tendency using the classical technique
of interpretation by seismic grid (Fig. 4).

Volumetric Seismic Attributes

Technical Volumetric Advance Attribute
Recognition of the principal components of the geological structural model is key to begin analysis of the
seismic interpretation. Therefore, the beginning of elementary seismic layer applied to the technical
SPE-169452-MS 3

Figure 1—General procedure for creating the 3D reservoir model.

volume amplitudes (tecVA) (Bulhões and de Amorim 2005) has shown great promise for the quick
recognition of the elemental structural seismic sector.
The principle of seismic layer assumes that the seismic reflections (positive and negative) are
meaningful and represent geological interfaces between layers. So, the elemental seismic layer (M) will
be half the period of the wavelet in the area of interest. This value (M) is the weighting factor for the
calculation of seismic data tecVA.
(1)

The final calculation simulates an improvement in the vertical resolution of the seismic and has shown
to be useful for the interpretation of seismic horizons. The variation of this technique involves phase
tecVA rotated through inverse Hilbert transform. This achieves, with high emphasis, the contrast into the
amplitude f of the original seismic data.
(2)

Sometimes it is necessary to condition the seismic data to obtain the desired results with this technique,
but in general this procedure can be performed on any platform seismic interpretation (Fig. 5).
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Figure 2—The geometry of the reservoir, which displays the macroscopic level.

Semblance Attribute
The semblance is a structural seismic attribute that allows obtaining the alignments associated with the
fault surfaces. It is defined similar to a measurement of the coherence of the signal through a specific path
(Neidell and Taner 1971). The coherence is obtained through the cross-correlation of seismic traces.
Mathematically, the semblance is defined as
(3)

The semblance attributes are calculated by measuring the consistency of the signal in up to eight
different directions. It is important to apply an excellent color palette to find the lateral discontinuities and
the differences between traces for a defined time window (Fig. 6).
Volumetric Curvature Attributes
Curvature attributes were used in the 1990s and were calculated on the interpreted surfaces. These
attributes have become reliable indicators of areas of a high-fracture-density reservoir. A significant
advance in the area of curvature attributes is the volumetric estimation of curvature (Al-Dossary and
SPE-169452-MS 5

Figure 3—Contrast between the amplitude seismic and filter seismic cube.

Figure 4 —Some seismic seeds propagation in a filter amplitude seismic cube.

Marfurt 2006). This volumetric curvature estimation eliminates the need to interpret horizons, thus
decreasing uncertainty about the quality of the seismic interpretation. The curvature attributes are quite
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Figure 5—The seismic line, which displays the final results of the tecVA.

capable of detecting faults and fracture zones and are also very helpful for detecting channels and
stratigraphic aspects (Fig. 7).
When the volumetric computed seismic attributes (semblance, tecVA, and curvature) are calculated,
fault planes can be interpreted in each structural alignment determined by seismic discontinuities. The
design of the fault plane is then generated into a 3D seismic isometric for quality control (Fig. 8).
3D Reservoir Modeling
Geological Reservoir Frame
The conformation of the geocellular model depends on the available geological information of the
reservoir. Knowledge of the historical behavior of the reservoir is key to inducing geologic trends into the
spatial distribution of properties in the geocellular model. The conversion from time to depth domain is
the principal element to transform the horizons and fault planes simulation grids. The hierarchy of fault
planes is essential to obtain a sealed geocellular model. In this step, the compressive geocellular structural
frame with four master units was developed. Each unit had a set of simulation layers of proportional
arrangements. The thickness of the layer was related to the simulation sampling petrophysical range (Fig.
9).
The study of the spatial continuity quantifies variability azimuthal anisotropy directions of the
petrophysical properties of the reservoir. The analysis of continuity is critical because it is the main
influence for the interpolations using the method of Kriging and conditional simulation to estimate the
uncertainty of the geological reservoir.
SPE-169452-MS 7

Figure 6 —The isometric seismic displaying the semblance attribute on the time slice.

Figure 7—Isometric seismic cube displaying the curvature attribute.

The application of this methodology was employed on the petrophysical model and was concentrated
in 30 wells distributed throughout the oil field. The petrophysical logs used were effective porosity, water
saturation (Sw), and permeability. The petrophysical curves were used as point sets for geostatistical
study. There are several techniques for the categorization of the petrophysical model. The purpose is to
remove outliers that do not represent a peculiarity of the reservoir. Statistical tools, such as a histogram
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Figure 8 —Interpretation of the fault plane seismic applied the tecVA.

and box plots, allow identifying abnormalities in petrophysical calculations by depth range in each
location well. The cross-validation model is used to find the empirical relationship between the dependent
and independent variables for predicting conditional values. The lineal regressions are performed to
estimate the correlation factor into the graph crossed. In this stage, the seismic volumetric attributes are
used. When the correlation factor is positive, the seismic volumetric attributes can reduce the geological
heterogeneity between location wells. The main goal is to introduce the petrophysical model categoriza-
tion into the geocellular units. Using weighted methods, mean values are assigned to the sample
petrophysical properties of each cell. The hard data from the reservoir was already pooled for each
petrophysical model property of the wells.
The study of spatial continuity quantifies the variability of the azimuthal anisotropy into the directions
of petrophysical properties of the oil reservoir. There are two parameters used to analyze the spatial
continuity: the semivariogram and covariance.
The semivariogram represented by gamma is a measure of dispersion, which increases their variability
as a function of their distance. It is defined as the sum of all the pairs of squared differences that are
contained within a distance interval. At the end, it is divided by twice the number of pairs in the range
restricted. When increasing the distance, the variogram tends to reach a constant value known as a sill.
The semivariogram plateau is defined by its variance squared. The distance from the semivariogram point
source to reach the plateau is called range.
(4)
SPE-169452-MS 9

Figure 9 —Geocellular reservoir model with four master static units.

Where Xi ⫽ the value displayed in the assigned position, X(1⫹h) ⫽ the sample value in the range (1⫹h),
h ⫽ the distance interval, and n ⫽ the number of data pairs.
The covariance is a measure of spatial correlation that is derived from the semivariogram and decreases
as a function of distance. The correlation length is defined as the covariance reaches zero and matches the
range of the semivariogram. Therefore, the inverse covariance behaves with respect to the semivariogram.
(5)

Where C(o) ⫽ the value of the semivariogram plateau.

The study of continuity is critical because it is the main influence for the interpolation by Kriging and
the conditional simulations that estimate the uncertainty of the geological reservoir. It is important to
adequately estimate the semivariogram so that it represents the trends into the dispersion in azimuthal
distance of the reservoir properties through the geocellular model. Designing of the ellipsoid of anisotropy
determines the structural and stratigraphic orientations and determines the effectiveness of the variogram.
The Kriging classical method generates a deterministic single solution that does not represent the
variability property of the reservoir. The stochastic methods honor the spatial model, which is provided
by the semivariogram. It allows the generation of independent scenarios of equal probability. Each
stochastic realization must be analyzed to decide whether it can determine the geological condition of the
reservoir. The stochastic methods have the ability to incorporate secondary data for a conditional
simulation (soft data, such as seismic attributes and well testing).
This stage is very important because it allows testing several designs before performing semivario-
grams. This procedure aims to generate a spatial distribution by Kriging applied to a single layer. Finally,
10 SPE-169452-MS

Figure 10 —Spatial distribution of the effective porosity reservoir.

it runs a stochastic simulation with 50 realizations, at least. These simulation scenarios for the petro-
physical model are performed using the average values for each interval (Fig. 10).
The calculation of interest per unit volume is determined by the probabilistic estimation of statistical
percentiles (P10, P50, and P90). The number of the realizations for estimating volumetric is related to the
realization for the petrophysical properties: effective porosity, permeability, and Sw.
The multiple geological scenarios from stochastic realizations are used to estimate the uncertainty
range. The prediction of reservoir properties is related to whether model uncertainty is optimistic or
pessimistic. The stochastic approach allows applying the risk analysis by Monte Carlo algorithm. One way
to quantify the uncertainty is determining the average standard deviation of the whole realization. The
standard error of the sample is used to determine the uncertainty. It is important to establish the areas of
greatest uncertainty with regard to the spatial dispersion of the petrophysical properties into the geocel-
lular model. This allows for identifying the areas of highest reliability in the distribution between the wells
and the areas of less control on the surface distribution of the reservoir.

Detection of Drilling Opportunities

The integration of the geologic elements to build a geocellular model helps determine the geometry of the
reservoir and the spatial distribution of petrophysical model (Fig. 11). This perspective contributes to
create a platform that allows for greater knowledge of the static reservoir. The petrophysical model
probabilistic scenarios are available for each static layer. In these scenarios, the favorable zones of the
hydrocarbon reservoir are detected at original reservoir conditions. Each prospective zone is evaluated
using historical production data and updated reservoir pressures. This allows for the prioritization of
drilling opportunities and can help expand available hydrocarbon reserves.
SPE-169452-MS 11

Figure 11—The well planning trajectory in the geocellular model (Sw property).

Conclusions
These 3D seismic interpretation techniques simplify the methods used for obtaining reservoir geometry
from an analysis of macroscopic interpretation to seismic detail. This allows for processing of the seismic
elements on grids that is very representative of the architecture of the reservoir, which can help reduce the
execution time of seismic interpretation projects. This methodology simplifies the construction of the
structural geocellular model. It uses the geological features from seismic interpretation, which allows the
conversion of the seismic simulation grids that are the best representation of the architecture of the
reservoir. The volumetric calculation into the geocellular model enables an excellent forecast of the
available hydrocarbon reserves of the reservoir. Finally, the geological modeling is ready for transfer into
any numerical simulator, providing a geocellular framework that encourages early detection of potential
drilling locations. This methodology was successfully applied in studies of seismic and reservoir modeling
in the southern regions of Mexico.

Acknowledgments
The authors thank Halliburton for permission to publish this paper; in particular, Iraima Riveron for
support of the present work. The authors are also grateful to Raquel Santiago of PEMEX for valuable
comments about the technical paper.

References
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Técnica Volumen de Amplitudes (tecVA). Paper presented at the SBGF 9th International Congress of the
Brazilian Geophysical Society, Salvador, Brazil, 11–14 September.
12 SPE-169452-MS

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