GJ

Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12303-018-0006-3
pISSN 1226-4806 eISSN 1598-7477 Geosciences Journal

Seismic attributes for characterization of a heavy-oil

shaly-sand reservoir in the Muglad Basin of South Sudan
William A. Deng1,2, Taeyoun Kim1,2, and Seonghyung Jang1,2*
1
Petroleum Resources Technology, University of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea
2
Petroleum and Marine Division, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Daejeon 34132, Republic of Korea

ABSTRACT: Seismic attributes are often used to identify lithology and evaluate reservoir properties. However, interpretation based
only on structural attributes and without knowledge of the Vp/Vs ratio can limit the ability to evaluate changes in heavy oil res-
ervoirs. These limitations are often due to less obvious impedance differences. In order to investigate pieces of evidence of a heavy-
oil shaly-sand reservoir from seismic data, besides geochemistry, we studied seismic attributes and characterized the reservoir using
seismic stack data and well logging data. The study area was the Muglad rift basin in South Sudan. We conducted a seismic complex
analysis to evaluate the target reservoir. To delineate the frequency responses of the different lithological units, we applied the spec-
tral decomposition method to the target reservoir. The most unexpected result was continuous bands of strong seismic reflectors
in the target reservoir, which extended across the borehole. Spectral decomposition analysis showed that the low-frequency zone
of 25 Hz dominant frequency was consistent with instantaneous attributes. This approach can identify lithology, reveal frequency
anomalies, and filter the stacked section into low- and high-frequency bands. The heavy-oil reservoir zones exhibited velocity atten-
uation and the amplitude was strongly frequency dependent.
Key words: seismic attributes, complex trace, heavy-oil, characterization, shaly-sand, Muglad Basin

Manuscript received November 13, 2017; Manuscript accepted January 18, 2018

1. INTRODUCTION Vp/Vs ratio for prediction of changes in the heavy-oil reservoir.

The Vp/Vs ratio is a useful lithology indicator of heavy-oil
reservoirs. Identification of heavy-oil reservoirs from seismic
data has been based on i) traveltime difference between vertical
and lateral components of the multicomponent seismic data
(Lines et al., 2005), ii) the acoustic impedance difference (Watson
et al., 2002), iii) instantaneous frequency between the upper and
the lower layers (Zhang et al., 2015), and iv) spectral decomposition
(Dumitrescu and Lines, 2009). The study area is the Muglad rift
basin, which is verified a heavy-oil shaly-sand reservoir from
geochemical analysis of core data and petrophysical analysis of
well logging data (Li et al., 2010). In order to find out pieces of
evidence of the reservoir from seismic data, we studied seismic
attributes. Since the seismic data used in this study was acquired
with single component geophones, we were unable to obtain a
*Corresponding author:
Seonghyung Jang
Petroleum Resources Technology, University of Science and Technology,
217 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea
Tel: +82-42-868-3402, Fax: +82-42-868-3417, E-mail: shjang@kigam.re.kr
The Association of Korean Geoscience Societies and Springer 2018
As an alternative, we performed a seismic instantaneous attributes
analysis and spectral decomposition. Because the instantaneous
attributes and spectral decomposition are sensitive to frequency
variation among general attributes such as geometric, kinematic,
dynamic, and statistical features derived from seismic data (Liner et
al., 2004).
Seismic attributes have been widely used as an interpretation
tools in seismic exploration (Tarner et al., 1979; Barnes, 1991).
They reveal useful information from seismic data such as structures,
stratigraphy, lithology, and reservoir properties. Seismic attributes
are sensitive to anomalies, caused by geological factors, associated
with oil and gas reservoirs (Li and Wang, 2007). In this study, we
used instantaneous attributes to the seismic stack data that
effectively generates reflection strength, 1st and 2nd derivatives
of reflection strength, instantaneous phase, and instantaneous
frequency. We also used spectral decomposition to identify a
heavy-oil shaly-sand reservoir. Spectral decomposition can image
temporal bed thickness and geological discontinuities over the
seismic data. Partyka et al. (1999) pioneered the use of spectral
decomposition to reservoir characterization.
In seismic exploration, internal stratigraphy cannot be mapped
2 William A. Deng, Taeyoun Kim, and Seonghyung Jang

efficiently only by identifying the geological model, reservoir
configuration, and fluid content. In contrast, the attributes
extracted from the seismic data can be better interpreted in
combination with well data, which allows prediction of lithology
and reservoir properties.
In this study, we tried to characterize a heavy-oil shaly-sand
reservoir using complex seismic trace analysis, spectral decomposition,
and well logs analysis.
2. GEOLOGICAL SETTING
The Muglad rift basin was formed by geologic evolution of
the rifting process during the late Jurassic–early Cretaceous.
This evolution was associated with the extension of a dextral slip
rupture that formed extensive passive rift basins in Central
Africa (Genik, 1993). Figure 1 shows a location map of the basin
area (Fairhead, 1988; Benkhelil, 1989). The basin covers an area
of about 200,000 km2 trending NW-SE in the Republic of South
Sudan. The structural evolution comprises three stages of rift-
related lacustrine deposits: pre-rift, three rifts (syn-rift), and a
sag phase (post-rift) (Fairhead, 1986; Giedt, 1990; Mohamed et
al., 2000). These three rifting phases are associated with episodes
of extension and are subdivided into Late Jurassic, Early
Cretaceous, Late Cretaceous, and Paleocene. The oil reserves
are located in a major reservoir of high-energy fluvial sandstone
of the Bentiu formation. The Cretaceous rock units of the Muglad
basin are shown in Figure 2. The Aradeiba fluvial-lacustrine
shale is identified as the potential seal (Schrufer et al., 2002).
The stratigraphic successions of the Muglad rift basin have
eleven lithostratigraphic units (Whiteman, 1971; Vail, 1978).

Fig. 1. Location map of the Muglad Rift Basin and study area, Early Cretaceous extension with NE_SW trending and Central African shear zone
trending NE-SW, modified after Fairhead (1988).

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 Seismic attributes approach for shaly sand reservoir 3

Table 1. Seismic survey acquisition parameters

Parameters Value
Source type Explosive/dynamite
Receiver type Sensor SM-24
Station interval 25 m
Shot point interval 100 m
Shot array 1
Hole depth Ranges from 5 to 15 (m)
# of Geophone groups 240
Group interval 100 m
Near-offset 12.5
Sample rate 4 ms
Far offset 2987.5 m
Low cut filter 8 Hz
High cut filter 62 Hz

and phase. Attenuation of high amplitude coherent noise and

Fig. 2. Schematic stratigraphic column of the Muglad Basin modified
from McHargue et al. (1992).
The Bentiu formation is identified as a reservoir bed with depths
ranging from 2,290 ~ 3,970 m (Tewari et al., 2006) (Fig. 2). The
field is characterized by low 19.5° American Petroleum Institute
gravity (< 22°), low sulfur content (< 0.2%), and high wax content.
The oil composition was generated by non-marine source rocks
(Mohamed et al., 2000; Mohamed et al., 2002).
3. APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY
The study area is located in the southern part of the prolific
Muglad rift basin, in South Sudan. It covers an area of approximately
21,000 km2 (Fig. 1). The seismic data used in this study was a
processed 2-D post-stack seismic reflection profile. The data
was recorded using dynamite as the source and 240-ch receivers.
The record length was 6 s with a sampling rate of 4 ms. The shot
interval was 100 m. Table 1 shows the seismic survey acquisition
parameters.
To obtain useful information from seismic attributes, the signal
to noise ratio must be enhanced without distortion of amplitude
spherical divergence compensation was applied to get an optimal
interpretable stack image. Fewer processing artifacts are passed
through normal moveout (NMO) correction. The NMO correction
compresses the seismic signal and stack image quality is enhanced,
since the random noise is attenuated with respect to signal after
stacking.
The processing sequences followed the procedures for land
seismic reflection data processing for true amplitude recovery.
The key processing sequences were comprised of geometry
definition, editing, amplitude correction, CMP sorting, velocity
analysis, NMO correction, stacking and Kirchhoff time migration
(Table 2). The seismic stack section shows interpreted features
such as reflector terminations, unconformities, and faults as
major geologic features with seismic wave character preserved
(Fig. 3). Several strong reflections were identified in the vicinity
of the borehole. The reservoir is at a common depth point
(CDP) #1819 in the 1.2 s two-way travel time (TWT) according
Table 2. Seismic processing for true amplitude recovery
Step Parameters
1 Trace editing
2 Static correction
3 Spherical divergence compensation: TV 2
4 High amplitude noise attenuation
5 Hight-frequency noise attenuation
6 Band pass filter: 8–12 – 50–60 Hz
7 Surface-consistent predictive deconvolution : Window-400 ms
–1600 ms, Operator length: 240 ms, Gap: 4 ms, 4 ms, whitening 1%
8 CMP sorting
9 Velocity analysis
10 NMO correction
11 Stack
12 Kirchhoff time migration

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4 William A. Deng, Taeyoun Kim, and Seonghyung Jang
Fig. 3. (a) Time-migrated stack section of the 2D land seismic data. The profile section in red box shows the target reservoirs. (b) Enlarged
image around the borehole. Labeled events are described as strong reflectors A, B, C, and D. C is the target reservoir.
to the well logging data. Figure 3b shows enlarged image around
the well. Strong seismic reflectors shown as A, B, C, and D were
identified as feature-variations of reflectors related to bed interfaces.
Especially C indicates the target reservoir.
The useful application of 2D seismic stack section is more
expansive in area and shows regional trends. The complex analysis
was applied to the migrated data to obtain a family of basic
attributes: mainly instantaneous amplitude, instantaneous phase,
instantaneous frequency, the first and the second derivative of
instantaneous amplitude, and cosine power of instantaneous
amplitude.
In this study, the vertical axes of seismic figures are presented
in two-way travel time. For depth approximation, the seismic
transit time (check-shot) along the wellbore was used for a time-
depth relationship. The depth at which reservoir formation
occurs from the checkshot was estimated using the approximate
time-depth relationship. Then, 1.2 seconds of TWT as equivalent
to 1.28 km of depth (Fig. 4). The major reflections (discontinuities,
sequence boundaries, and unconformities) show clear continuity
adjacent to, or around the well and were comparatively characterized
by strong amplitude.
The borehole data was provided by a single well drilled as a
vertical hole to a true vertical depth (TVD) of 1,760 m. This well
was discovered oil-bearing reservoir in Lacustrine Bentiu sand
(Fig. 2). Wireline logs data were used to predict various petrophysical
or other geological parameters in the depth of the borehole.
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3.1. Seismic Complex Trace Analysis
To obtain geological information from the post-stack seismic
data for local variation of physical properties, it was necessary to
use the complex seismic trace analysis. Complex seismic trace is
often used to calculate seismic attributes. The seismic attributes
include geological information such as signal analysis of earthquakes
(Farnbach, 1975), instantaneous attributes from seismic stack
data (Tarner and Sheriff, 1977; Sicking, 1978; Barnes, 1991) and
verification of thin layers on the seismic stack (Robertson and
Nogami, 1984). In this study, we applied the reflection strength,
1st and 2nd derivatives of reflection strength, instantaneous
phase and frequency, and cosine power of the reflection strength
to the heavy-oil shaly-sand reservoir to determine geological
characteristics.
3.1.1. Reflection strength and its 1st and 2nd derivatives
Seismic complex trace F(t) is defined by seismic trace F(t) in
the real part and its Hilbert transformation g(t) in the imaginary
part such as F(t) = f(t) + ig(t) (Tarner and Sheriff, 1977). If we
display f(t) in the real part and g(t) in the imaginary part in
terms of amplitude and phase, it becomes f(t) = A(t) cos (t)
and the imaginary part g(t) is g(t) = A(t)sin  (t). So the complex
trace becomes
i  t 
F  t  = f  t  + ig  t  = A  t e . (1)
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 Seismic attributes approach for shaly sand reservoir 5

Fig. 4. Example of time-depth relationship to calculate depth at which each seismic events of interests occurs from the well data. Depth is
shown in meters and two-way traveltime in seconds.

From f(t) and g(t), we can compute the instantaneous amplitude phase is
(reflection strength) A(t) and the instantaneous phase  (t).
gt
The instantaneous amplitude is   t  = tan –1  --------- . (3)
f t
At = f t + g t = Ft  .
2 2
(2)
Since the profile from the instantaneous phase is appropriate
Equation (2) displays the variation of reflection strength to show the discontinuities of reflectors, faults, pinch-out, and
(amplitude of envelope) between the upper and the lower reflections from different dips, it is effective for discriminating
interfaces. The reflection strength has its maximum at phase the seismic stratigraphic reflectors.
points not picks or troughs of the seismic real trace. It also
occurs at the interfaces where several reflections are stacked. 3.1.3. Instantaneous frequency
The reflection strength is related to the variation of petrophysical Since the phase variation with respect to the times from
properties such as the unconformity, the rapid variation of Equation (3) is
the sea bottom, and gas reservoir (Taner and Sheriff, 1977).
dA  t  d t
The 1st derivative of the instantaneous amplitudes ( ------------- ) is ------------- =   t  , (4)
dt dt
the time variation of the instantaneous amplitude. This shows
that the energy variation of reflection is the proper information the substitution for instantaneous phase makes the instantaneous
to get the physical information from the fracture zone (Turner, frequency,
1994). The 2nd derivative of the instantaneous amplitude
  gt 
  t  = ----- tan–1  --------- ,
d 2
A t d
---------------
2 ) is the maximum value of the instantaneous amplitude, (5)
dt dt f t
which is useful for revealing reflection interfaces. The 2nd
derivative of the instantaneous amplitude shows all interfaces  dg  t  df  t  
in the seismic signals and rapid variation of petrophysical  f  t  -----------
dt
- – g  t  ----------- 
dt 

properties.   t  = -----------------------------------------------------
-. (6)
f t + g t
2 2

3.1.2. Instantaneous phase The instantaneous frequency is the frequency at a point in the
From the seismic complex trace Equation (1), the instantaneous time domain like the instantaneous phase. This displays rapid

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6 William A. Deng, Taeyoun Kim, and Seonghyung Jang
variation around pinch-out and the interface between hydrocarbon
and water. The low-frequency shadows are indicators of strong
low-frequency energy beneath gas sands, condensate, and oil
reservoirs. It is well known that the low-frequency shadows
occur when the attenuation of high-frequency components of
seismic signals is greater than low-frequency components
(Taner et al., 1979).
3.1.4. Cosine power of instantaneous amplitude
The cosine power of the instantaneous amplitude displays the
number of peaks and troughs in a seismic trace (Stark, 2009),
which is defined as:
f  t  = A  t cos  N*   t   , (7)
where N is a spin factor. This provides better details on
stratigraphic and structural features.
3.2. Spectral Decomposition
Time-frequency analysis has extensive applications in seismic
data processing and interpretation. One important application
is its use as a direct hydrocarbon indicator and in lithology
prediction (Partyka et al., 1999; Castagna et al., 2003). Spectral
decomposition has been incorporated in seismic processing
workflow for spectral analysis, noise filtering, and energy
compensation as a seismic interpretation tool. Many types of
research on the frequency-domain have been discussed
(Chakraborty and Okaya, 1995; Prokoph and Barthelms, 1996;
Ebrom, 2004). The complex nature of the subsurface layers
having seismic signal variations in the time domain make more
difficult in oil and gas exploration. To obtain better results and
to reduce the risk, one needs to implement high-resolution
time-frequency analysis. When the seismic wave propagates, in
general, the amplitude, frequency bandwidth, and dominant
frequency decrease. To evaluate the signal varying in time and
frequency, the average instantaneous power spectrum of the
seismic trace is estimated (Gabor, 1946).
Spectral decomposition is produced by decomposing the
seismic amplitude into its constituent frequency (decomposes)
and replacing the single trace with a number of traces corresponding
to the input attributes. In this study, we used the matching
pursuit method (Mallat and Zhang, 1993) for decomposing the
seismic signals. The matching pursuit method decomposes the
signal in five steps; i) generate a complex trace using a Hilbert
transform, ii) generate amplitude, phase, and dominant frequency,
iii) determine the time location of the maximum amplitude of
the envelope, iv) determine dominant frequency and phase
angle, v) subtract the real part of the complex wavelet from the
real seismic trace. The potential benefit of this method is the
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production of low-frequency seismic signals for hydrocarbon
detection (Liu and Marfurt, 2007).
3.3. Wireline Logging Analysis
We used wireline logging data for identifying the target
reservoirs such as natural gamma ray (GR), caliper (CALI), the
spontaneous potential (SP), bulk density (RHOB), neutron
porosity (NPHI), shallow and deep resistivity (LLS and LLD),
and sonic logs. The wireline logs were obtained in a single
borehole for characterizing the petrophysical properties and
distinguish the different lithology units of the heavy-oil shaly-
sand reservoir.
The shaly-sand reservoir can usually be expressed as relatively
simple logs or a combination of logs. The computation of shale
volume, lithology reconstruction, and reservoir determination
are essential to identify the matrix and to quantify reservoir
characteristics. The sandstone model parameters used to establish
a clean sand lines are; density (2.65 g/cm3) and neutron (appr.
–0.07) for dry solid point. And shale line parameters are; density
(2.3 to 2.85 g/cm3) and neutron (appr. 0.1 to 0.4) to the 100%
porosity of fluid point.
4. FIELD DATA APPLICATION
We used seismic attributes to evaluate the heavy-oil shaly-
sand reservoir from post-stack seismic data. These attributes
provide a rapid qualitative understanding of the lithology,
structure and reservoir properties. Seismic attributes analysis
using complex seismic trace, spectral decomposition, and wireline
logging data revealed information on hydrocarbon-bearing
formation intervals. For accurately characterized the reservoir, a
workflow for conducting attributes analysis was used (Fig. 5).
The workflow is a process to identify a heavy-oil shaly-sand
reservoir. We had conducted a workflow for investigating pieces
of evidence of the heavy-oil shaly-sand reservoir.
4.1. Complex Seismic Trace
Interpretation of seismic attributes using a complex seismic
trace depends on the geologic setting of the study area, acquisition
and processing procedures. The seismic stack section of the
Muglad Basin is shown in Figure 3a. The observed amplitude
was related to the actual reflection coefficient, which is an
indication of the difference in contrast above and below the
target zone. The computation of complex seismic trace attributes
was accomplished using Equations (2), (3), (6) and (7), which
express the real seismic trace as a function of time-dependent
amplitude and phase. Therefore, the reconstructed complex
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 Seismic attributes approach for shaly sand reservoir 7

Fig. 5. Workflow followed for a heavy-oil shaly-sand reservoir characterization.

Fig. 6. Results of the complex analysis. (a) is input stack image, (b) is the reflection strength, (c) is the first derivative of (b), (d) is the second
derivative of (b), (e) is the instantaneous phase, (f) is the instantaneous frequency, and (g) is the cosine power of (b).

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8 William A. Deng, Taeyoun Kim, and Seonghyung Jang
seismic trace is essentially a scalar quantity. The attributes
analysis for the stack image gives geological information for the
heavy oil shaly-sand reservoir. Figure 6 shows the instantaneous
attributes reconstructed from the seismic reflection data. In
comparison to the seismic time section of Figure 6a, the high
amplitude reflection in Figure 6b is indicated by arrows. This
illustrates several geologic features based on the seismic reflections.
The high amplitude reflection is believed to be a thin bed (1/4
wavelength vertical resolution limit), hydrocarbon-bearing shaly-
sand reservoir. The faults in Figure 6a are seen as discontinuous
thin lines with low reflections and hardly recognizable. From
the instantaneous amplitude in Figure 6b, the undesired effects
were removed revealing a true reflection property, which effectively
indicates geological structures and reservoir location. The high
values of reflection strength (the dark/light color represents a
high/low value of reflection strength) are associated with the
reservoir section, while the low values of reflection strength are
associated with non-reservoir units (shale). Figures 6c and d
show the first and second derivatives of the reflection strength
respectively. The reflectors are sharpened and suggest absorption
of energy. The discontinuities of the reflectors in the reservoir
interval suggest the presence of fault blocks, which led to the
distortion of seismic signals. The reflection intensity is significantly
more effective in delineating the lithology and structures. The
strong reflectors, which appear on all images, suggest that the
continued interfaces associated with the seismic velocity ratios
of sand/shale could differentiate lithologies. The instantaneous
phase in Figure 6e shows that the phase variations indicate the
bed continuity, faults, and the sequences boundaries. Compared
to Figure 6a, the phase behaviors display variations in energy
of different reflectors due to the acoustic impedance. The
instantaneous frequency in Figure 6f highlights the contrast
between frequency values. The higher frequencies correspond
to sharp interfaces of shale layers, while the lower frequencies
correspond to sand-rich layers. The low-frequency anomaly
zone corresponds to the characteristics of unconsolidated sands
with heavy-oil saturated pores. Figure 6g is the result of the
cosine power of the instantaneous amplitude. This is effective for
determining the phase changes between two interfaces.
4.2. Spectral Decomposition
We applied the spectral decomposition technique to analyse
properties of the seismic trace in order to investigate the effects
of the frequency-dependent attribute. The study area has a heavy-
oil shaly-sand reservoir as the target formation. The sequences
show significant amplitude changes along the borehole location
due to the presence of the heavy-oil shaly-sand between 1.2 and
1.5 s. To investigate the time-frequency variations along the
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lateral direction, we expected to see anomalies at the locations of
the heavy-oil shaly-sand reservoirs. We also expected a hydrocarbon-
related low-frequency zone under the reservoir. Figure 7a shows
an example of the input stack section across the reservoir
interval where the spectral decomposition was applied. Figures
7b–e show the results of the time-frequency energy distribution
of the seismic data generated using matching pursuit
decomposition of 8, 25, 50 and 80 Hz respectively. The variation
of frequencies with time is clear continuous. In the 8 Hz profile
in Figure 7b, we found strong amplitudes at the low-frequency
under the target formation and comparable at 1.2–1.5 s. Figure
7c shows the decomposition frequency spectrum of the reservoir
interval of interest with a dominant frequency of 25 Hz. From
petrophysics, the Bentiu formation showed good sand development,
which was thinner than a temporal seismic thickness of 1.2 s.
The resolved profile at 25 Hz showed the reservoir extent at 1.2 s
with strong energy. However, the amplitudes were weak at the
higher frequency profiles (Figs. 7d and e).
4.3. Analysis of Wireline Logging Data
We made simple comparisons of wireline logging results that
were useful in testing the petrophysical parameters, which are
important in the low-frequency zone. The data were obtained
from a single borehole which is confined to the Cretaceous
Bentiu formation. In the stratigraphic context, this formation is
comprised of shaly-sand with a few silts. It is regarded as the
main oil-producing reservoir in the Muglad Basin. The drilling
target of the well was the lacustrine fluvial sandstone of the
Bentiu and the Aradeiba formations (Fig. 2). Figure 4 showed a
time-depth relationship curve which had been calculated from
the borehole interval velocities. The curve provides guidance for
the interpretation of seismic reflection data across the borehole.
We only discuss the essential results of this analysis, which
include density and gamma rays. Both of these act as lithology
indicators of the reservoir rock. Through petrophysical analysis
based on curve comparisons, we obtained two facies, which are
mainly sand and shale as the dominant lithology in the
reservoir. Figure 8 shows the well log result sections along the
borehole. The gamma-ray log shows prominent peaks in the
different parts of track 1 around zone A and has high values. In
zone B, the values are predominantly low. This suggests sandstone
facies. A simple comparison of other curves in the interval around
depths of 1,206 to 1,222 m and 1,311 to 1,325 m indicates at two
main shale layers dominated reservoirs in zone A and sand
dominates the reservoir and hydrocarbon bearing reservoir in
zone B. Shale indicators are obtained by the resistivity curves
overlaying in track 2 and by the SP deflection in track 1. The
deflection of the CALI curve is an indicator for shale. The
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 Seismic attributes approach for shaly sand reservoir 9

Fig. 7. Results of the spectral decomposition. (a) Input stack along the target reservoir interval and thin bed response at 1.2 second, (b) 8
Hz spectral decomposition profile corresponding to (a), the low-frequency at 1.2–1.5 s is comparably strong, (c) 25 Hz profile shows the low-
frequency with comparable amplitude and the extent of the reservoir at 1.2 s, (d) 50 Hz profile, (e) 80 Hz profile. (d) and (e) show the atten-
uation of the low-frequency around 1.2 s.

resistivity log is useful in fluid detection. It shows that the
sandstone layers in zone B contain hydrocarbons at a depth of
1,325 m. The shale shows resistivity values of 6 to 15 ohm-m
and density values of approximately 2.20 to 2.30 g/cm3. When
the sandstone density value was 2.30 g/cm3, resistivity was indicated
as 12 to 18 ohm-m with a low GR reading. This could be due to
the presence of non-conducting hydrocarbons. In track 3 the
RHOB curve lies to the right of the NPHI curve and readings
were parallel in some parts and overlapping in other parts. The
in situ P wave velocity obtained from the sonic log of the heavy
oil sand zone was measured versus depth. The relation of P-
wave velocity to rocks saturated with heavy oil in zone B decreased
slightly with increasing depth. This velocity decrease is fundamental
petrophysical evidence for the in situ reflection of the seismic
waves. It shows that the location of heavy oil is related to P-wave
velocity.
In general, the ability to distinguish permeable and impermeable
zones is determined by the presence of mudcake. Permeable
zones are indicated by the presence of sandstone. In contrast, the
impermeable zones are indicated by high values of the density log
and low values of NPHI.

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10 William A. Deng, Taeyoun Kim, and Seonghyung Jang

Fig. 8. Summary of well logs section. Track 1: Caliper log (red), gamma ray log (black), and spontaneous potential log (blue). Track 2: Shallow
(red) and deep (black) resistivity. Track3: Density (red) and neutron-porosity (blue) logs. Track 4: Sonic log.

5. DISCUSSION indicate that seismic attributes interpretation can be used to

Our data suggest that the amplitude of the seismic reflectors
associated with heavy-oil shaly-sand intervals is significantly
higher compared to the moderate amplitude corresponding to
the anomalies of interest. However, it is barely identifiable on
the seismic stack section due to the complexity associated with
rift basins (Fig. 3b).
Seismic attributes were used to unravel seismic reflections
and to improve the delineation of reservoir reflectors associated
with lithology, fault expressions and thin bed tuning effects.
Seismic attribute analysis based on complex seismic trace provided
quality imaging and strong amplitude reflectors of the bed along
the borehole location. The results of the instantaneous attributes
characterize structural features and depositional settings (Kalkomey,
1997; Chopra and Marfurt, 2005; Raeesi et al., 2012; Raef et al.,
2015). The shaly-sand bed was imaged as lines on the envelope
amplitude profile in Figure 6b. The instantaneous phase shows
the lateral discontinuities (Fig. 6e). The reflectors in the reservoir
zone appeared as horizontal and layers in the section. The
reflectors of these shaly-sand beds were identified as a low-
frequency zone (Fig. 6f). When examining the frequency values
along the target reservoir depth, we discovered a good relationship
between the instantaneous frequencies and depth. This suggests
that the instantaneous frequency is sensitive to the presence of
sand layers and the heavy oil reservoir. Previous examples
demonstrate that seismic attributes analysis is highly efficient in

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 Seismic attributes approach for shaly sand reservoir
characterizing lithology and structures. For example, a comparison
of seismic reflection data with water and hydrocarbon saturation
show that the phase is shifted and energy redistributed across
frequencies (Goloshubin et al., 1996). The sandy oil-saturated
interval appears as low-frequency and high amplitude. It is
hypothesized to be widely distributed in the Cretaceous formation
(Goloshubin et al., 2002; Azeem et al., 2016). Reservoir
characterization in a mesoscopic (bedding) scale was used to
identify the reservoir zone and to illustrate important elements
of seismic attributes in reservoir evaluation. The instantaneous
frequency was a unique feature of a thin bed.
The category of traditional time-frequency transform has
useful properties such as improving resolutions and inexpensive
computation (Young, 1999). Spectral decomposition is applied
to seismic data and is 2D (time axis = ordinate and CDP axis =
abscissa) expanded to the third dimension by adding a frequency
axis. The new arrangement of time-frequency-CDP constitutes
the basis for reservoir characterization by fixing the frequency.
The spectral decomposition energy distribution in the frequency
range is effective for oil and gas detection (Castagna et al., 2003;
Yang, 2003; Ebrom, 2004; Fahmy et al., 2005; Goloshubin et al.,
2006). The low-frequency is highly significant because waves are
slow inside an oil-saturated layer at the specific low-frequencies.
This corresponds to low velocity and high amplitude. Figures
7b–e show frequencies sorted into individual horizons and
represent the spectral amplitude of individual frequency (8, 25,
50, and 80 Hz) versus time. The results were generated from 1
Hz increments to 100 Hz, but only peak frequency and peak
amplitude were selected with respect to frequencies 8, 25, 50
and 80 Hz. Figure 7c displays the heavy oil reservoir with the
high amplitude.
We present an approach using petrophysical analysis based
on qualitative and quantitative interpretation of wireline logging.
Our interpretation showed that shale and sand units were
successfully recognized. We can conclude that the two main
zones in the reservoir interval are comprised of impermeable
shale in zone A and permeable sandstone in zone B. Zone B has
a good quality reservoir containing hydrocarbons.
6. CONCLUSION
We used seismic attribute analysis to evaluate a heavy-oil
shaly-sand reservoir with 2-D seismic data. Data from a single
borehole was used to determine lithology and reservoir rock
properties. A comparison of the results from the seismic data
and logging data was used to understand the constituents of the
sand and shale layers. Strong reflectors were observed at CDP
#1819 in the 1.2 s TWT, which corresponds to the borehole that
was drilled in the oil-bearing formation. The results were consistent
http://www.springer.com/journal/12303
11
with the instantaneous amplitude profile which showed a high
amplitude value that probably represents a reservoir bed. The
instantaneous frequency which appears as lines of low-frequency,
suggests an unconsolidated interval of hydrocarbon saturation.
This contention is supported by the fact that the instantaneous
frequency attribute of seismic waves evaluates reservoir distribution
qualitatively in heavy oil sand. The time-frequency profile, resolved
at 25 Hz, indicates a low-frequency zone. From the spectral
decomposition panels, the elliptical shape along the frequency
direction with the narrow bandwidth was shown at 1.2 s and the
frequency ranged between 15 Hz to 30 Hz. The integration of
multiple seismic attributes techniques with wireline logging data
interpretation suggests a reduction of geotechnical risk associated
with some reservoirs. The complex seismic trace analysis may
not reveal the facies in thin shaly-sand but may indicate the
reservoir by major reflectors. Further research is recommended
to evaluate the nature of the reservoir fluid. However, the
seismic attribute analysis is eventually important prior to the
seismic interpretation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by the Energy Efficiency & Resources
Core Technology Program of the Korea Institute of Energy
Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP), granting financial
resources from the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE),
Republic of Korea. (No. 20142510101810) and by the Basic
Research Project of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and
Mineral Resources (KIGAM) funded by the MOTIE, Republic
of Korea (No. 18-3312).
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