CHAPTER 3

• PETROLEUM EXPLORATION
• – Geophysical Methods
 Introduction

• The petroleum geoscientist uses a wide range

of tools to help explore for and produce
petroleum.
• The petroleum geoscientist needs to describe
the distribution, at basin to pore scale, of rock,
fluid, and void in the Earth's subsurface.
• To do this, the geoscientist uses a large array of
data types and methods.
 Data used in petroleum exploration
& production
Data type and source
• Satellite images
• Geophysical data
• Seismic data, including:
2D
3D
4D
4C (shear wave signal)
• Wireline log data
• Cuttings and cores from well
• Outcrop data
• Seepage of Petroleum
• Geochemical data
Use
Largely in frontier exploration
Frontier exploration and exploitation
Exploitation, appraisal, development
& production
Production
Exploration to production
Exploration to production
Exploration to production
Frontier exploration
Frontier exploration & exploitation
Frontier exploration & exploitation
Data used in petroleum exploration
& production

A Landsat satellite image of the Zagros

Mountains, Iran. The center of the image shows a
near-circular anticline above a salt dome.
 Geophysical Methods
• Passive:
Method using the natural fields of the Earth, e.g.
gravity and magnetic
• Active:
Method that requires the input of artificially
generated energy, e.g. seismic reflection
• The objective of geophysics
To locate or detect the presence of subsurface
structures or bodies and determine their size,
shape, depth, and physical properties (density,
velocity, porosity…) + fluid content
 Gravity Surveying

• Gravity data can be used to help define the

regional tectonic regime, prioritize areas for
seismic work, and identify the causes of
seismic structure (e.g., reefs, salt, and
basement uplift).
• Gravimetric data can be obtained at much
lower cost than seismic data.
• However, the resolution of gravimetric data is
lower than that of seismic data.
 Gravity Surveying

• Gravity surveying measures spatial variations in

the Earth’s gravitational field caused by
differences in the density of sub-surface rocks
• In fact, it measures the variation in the
accelaration due to gravity
• It is expressed in so called gravity anomalies (in
milligal, 10-5 ms-2), i.e. deviations from a
predefined reference level, geoid (a surface over
which the gravitational field has equal value).
Gravity Surveying
 Gravity Surveying
• Gravitational prospecting uses Newton's Law,
which links the force of mutual attraction
between particles in terms of their masses and
separation.
• The law states that two particles of mass m1
and m2 respectively, and of small dimension
compared with the distance r that separates
their centers of mass, will be attracted to one
another by a force F as follows:
F = G(m1.m2)/r2
Gravity Surveying
 Gravity Surveying

• The acceleration (a) of a mass m2 due to the

attraction of mass m1 at distance r can be
calculated by dividing the attractive force by the
mass m2, thus:
a = F/m2 = G m1/r2
• If m1 is considered to be the mass of the earth
and r its radius, then a is the gravitational
acceleration on the earth’s surface.
• g = GM/R2
• G = universal gravitational constant
 Gravity Surveying

• Where:

• – G = 6.67x10-11m3kg-1s-2
• – R is the Earth’s radius
• – M is the mass of the Earth
• – m is the mass of a small mass
 Gravity Surveying

• The value of a (or g) varies from place to place.

This variation is due to the effect of latitude,
altitude, and topography, as well as geology.
• These variations must be removed before the
last residual one can be detected.
• The acceleration due to gravity is measured in
Gals. The commonly used unit is the milliGal
(where 1000 milliGaIs (mG) =I GaI).
 Gravity Surveying

• Variations in g:
 Gravity Surveying

• Salt dome, ρ  g

• Dense rock (anticline), ρ  g 

 Gravity Measurement & Equipment

• Relative gravity:
• Mass on spring measurements. Two types:
• 1. Stable Gravimeter. Ex: Askania, Gulf dan
Norgaard
• Change in g --> change in spring length.
• Δg = -k ΔL/m
 Gravity Measurement & Equipment

• 2. Unstable gravimeter or astatic.

• Suitable choice of mass, spring constant and geometry
makes the system unstable and very sensitive to
changes in g.
• Ex: LaCoste-Romberg and Worden gravity meter.
 Density Variations of Earth Materials

• Consider the variation in

gravitational acceleration that
would be observed over a
simple model.
• Assume due to the presence of
a small ore body.
• Let the ore body have a
spherical shape.
• The gravity anomaly produced
by a buried sphere is symmetric
about the center of the sphere.
 Gravity Surveying
• When corrections have been made for the
readings at each station, they may be plotted
on a map and contoured in milligals.
• Gravity maps are more useful for showing the
broad architecture of a sedimentary basin.
However, in some cases gravity maps may
indicate drillable prospects by locating salt
domes and reefs.
• Gravity surveys can be carried out on land, at
sea, and by air.
 Gravity Surveying
Example: Mapping basin depth
 Gravity Surveying
Example: Mapping basin depth
 Gravity Surveying
Example: Mapping basin depth
 Magnetic surveying

• Magnetic surveying aims to investigate the

subsurface geology by measuring the strength
or intensity of the Earth’s magnetic field.
• Lateral variation in magnetic susceptibility and
remanence give rise to spatial variations in the
magnetic field.
• It is expressed in so called magnetic anomalies,
i.e. deviations from the Earth’s magnetic field.
Magnetic surveying
 Magnetic surveying

• The Earth's magnetic field may be divided into

three components, the external field, the main
field, and variations in the main field.
• At any point above the earth, the measured
geomagnetic field will be the sum of these
components.
• The main field is generated by the Earth’s
metallic core.
• Variations in the main field are commonly much
smaller than the main field signal.
 Magnetic surveying

• The main field

Magnetic surveying
 Magnetic surveying

• Variations in the main field are produced by

local magnetic anomalies in the near-surface
crust.
• The intensity of magnetization of a magnetic
mineral will normally be related to the regional
field strength:
• J=kH
• Where J is the intensity of magnetization
• k is the magnetic susceptibility
• H is the intensity of the magnetic field
 Magnetic Surveying
• Rock magnetism has two components, induced and
remanent.
• The induced component is proportional to the Earth's
magnetic field and the proportionality constant is called
the "magnetic susceptibility.“
• Magnetic susceptibility measures the degree to which an
element or mineral can be magnetized.
• The magnetic susceptibility is very variable, ranging from
<10-4 emu/cm3 for sedimentary rocks to between 10-3 and
10-2 emu/cm3 for iron-rich basic igneous rocks.
 Magnetic Surveying

• In exploration geophysics, anomalies are

measured in gamma units—equivalent to the
nanotesla (nT) in SI units—where 1 gamma
=0.00001 Oe.
• Magnetic data may be collected on land and
with shipborne or airborne magnetometers.
• By this method an aeromagnetic map, which
contours anomalies in the earth’s magnetic field
in gamma units, may be constructed.
 Magnetic Surveying

• Like gravity maps, magnetic maps are more

useful for showing the broad-basin architecture,
but can seldom be used to locate drillable
petroleum prospects.
 Magnetic Surveying

• Magnetic field anomaly. Bouger anomaly.

 Magnetic Anomaly

• Let's now qualitatively

construct what the
magnetic anomaly of a
metallic sphere located
beneath the north pole
would look like.
 Magnetic Anomaly

• Finally, let's examine the

shape of the anomalous
magnetic field for a
metallic sphere buried
somewhere in the
northern hemisphere
 Magnetic Anomaly
• Suppose we have a buried dyke
with a susceptibility of 0.001
surrounded by sedimentary
rocks with no magnetic
susceptibility. The dyke in this
example is 3 meters wide, is
buried 5 meters deep, and
trends to the northeast. Thus,
we could determine the location
of the dyke and possibly its
dimensions by measuring the
spatial variation in the strength
of the magnetic field.
 Seismic Surveying
• Reflection surveying:
Seismic Surveying

Before Seismic Existed

 Seismic Surveying
• The most important of the three main types of geological
prospecting.
• They are the only widely used data that give a complete
picture of the whole area of study, be it basin, play
fairway, prospect, trap or reservoir.
• Seismic imaging of the Earth's shallow structure uses
energy waves created at a sound source and collected
some distance away.
• The seismic method relies upon changes in acoustic
properties of rock to alter the properties of sound waves
transmitted through the rock.
www.dme.qld.gov.au/zone_files/geoscience_images/seismic3.jpg pubs.usgs.gov/of/2000/of00-304/htmldocs/chap01/images/seismic.gif
 Seismic Surveying
• Seismic surveying is largely concerned with the
primary P waves.
• When a wave emanating from the surface
reaches a boundary between two media that
have different acoustic impedance, some of the
energy is reflected back into the upper
medium, and some may be refracted into the
lower medium.
 Seismic Surveying
• Reflection and refraction
 Seismic Surveying
• The acoustic velocity of a rock varies
according to its elastic constants and density.
The velocity of a P wave:

4
v P  ( k  n) / 
3
• k is the bulk modulus Vs = (n/) ½
• n is the shear modulus
• ρ is the density
 Seismic Surveying
• Factor affecting Velocity:
Density – velocity typically increases with density
– (k and n are dependant on ρ and increase more
rapidly than ρ):

Porosity and fluid saturation-

• Increasing porosity reduces velocity.
• Filling the porosity with fluid increases the velocity.
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Seismic Surveying
• The acoustic impedance is the product of the rock’s
density and the velocity (ρ x ν), and is characterized by
the reflection coefficient, R:
• v 2  2  v1 1
R
v 2  2  v1 1
• Where ρ is the density, and v is the P wave velocity.
• The greater the R the stronger the reflection.
• The quality of reflectors and hence the ability to define
successions of rocks and their characteristics depends
initially on the natural variations in the rock.
 Seismic Surveying
Reflection seismic
survey:
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Seismic Surveying

• The reflections generated

from many sources delivering
signals to many layers in the
subsurface, and collected at
many receivers, are compiled
to yield seismic cross-
sections in 2D and seismic
volumes in 3D.
 Seismic Surveying
3D surveys: collect data on a grid.
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Seismic Surveying
• 2D seismic cross-sections and 3D seismic
volumes are most commonly displayed by
linear x and y coordinates as measured on the
Earth's surface and z measured in time
beneath the Earth's surface.
• If the average acoustic velocity of the rock is
known, then it is possible to calculate the depth
(D) to the interface.
• D = vt/2
• v is the acoustic velocity
• t is the two-way travel time
 v1 1  v 2  2
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Seismic Surveying
• Seismic acquisition:
• Land: Dynamite and Vibroseis are the most
common sources of energy for land-based
seismic surveys.
• Vibroseis comprises a heavy all-terrain vehicle
that can lower a steel plate onto the ground
surface.
• Other energy sources such as weight dropper
and Dinoseis (explosion of a propane/air
mixture in a chamber mounted below a truck).
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Seismic Surveying
• Guns, Weight dropper and Vibroseis
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Seismic Surveying
• The returning acoustic waves
are recorded on Geophones.
• The signals are transmitted
from the geophones along
cables to the recording truck
and records on magnetic tapes.
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Seismic Surveying
• Marine: The energy source for such surveys is
almost exclusively the air gun. An air gun
discharges a high-pressure pulse of air into the
water.
• The air guns can emit energy sufficient to
generate signals at between 5 and 6 s two-way
travel time.
• Depending on interval velocities, these signals
may penetrate to over 5 km.
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Seismic Surveying
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Seismic Surveying
• The reflected signals are recorded by
hydrophones on a cable towed behind the ship.
• The cable (streamer) runs several meters
below sea level and may be between 2 and 5
km in length.
• The reflected signals are transmitted
electronically from groups of hydrophones
along the cable to the recording unit on the
survey ship.
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Seismic Surveying
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Seismic Surveying
• Seismic ship and air gun.
A seismic ship shooting a 3D marine survey. The four streamers under tow create the wake patterns seen
at the edges of the photo. Immediately to either side of the ship's wake is an air-gun array. Each array contains four
strings of air guns. With the two sources firing in an alternating pattern, eight lines of seismic data were acquired at
once (Western Geophysical).
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Seismic Surveying
• Seismic processing:
• The aims are to enhance
the interpretable (useful)
seismic information relative
to the noise in the signal
and place the seismic
reflectors in their correct x,
y, z space.
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Seismic Surveying
• Here is a brief description of
some of the processing steps:
• Editing and Muting: Manually
cleaning up the data.
• • Remove dead traces
• • Remove noisy traces
• • Switch polarity on reversed traces
• • “Cut” out unwanted signal e.g.
pre-arrival noise, direct arrival,
ground roll.
 Reflected Ray Paths Geometry

• If t1 & t2 are travel time and x1 & x2 are offset,

so:
Δt = t2 – t1 ~ (x22 – x12 )/ 2V2to
(3)
If one geophone at shotpoint (or at x1=0),
Δt known as
normal moveout (NMO), Δtn
then,
Δtn ~ x2 / 2V2to (4)
The importance of NMO:
• Having determined the layer velocity, we can use the predicted quadratic
shape to identify reflectors
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Seismic Surveying
• Convolution/deconvolution
processes, which are designed
to allow determination of the
effect of the Earth on the seismic
signal.
• The seismogram recorded at the
surface (S) is the convolution of
the two
• S=W*R
• W: source wavelet, R: reflectivity series
• Deconvolution: undoing the
convolution to get back to the
reflectivity series.
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Seismic Surveying
• Common depth/mid point (CMP)
stacking, which involves the
arrangement of component data
for a single depth point side by
side.
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Seismic Surveying
 The Power of Stacking:
Example, Stack of Five Shots
(A), and Single Shot (B)

(A) (B)
Single horizontal reflector

QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
 NMO Correction

• Before and after NMO

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Seismic Surveying
• Migration: The process of trying to move reflections
back to their point of origin. When beds dip steeply, the
wave returns from the reflector from a point not
immediately beneath the surface location midway
between the shotpoint and each individual geophone but
from a point up-dip from this position. The data must be
migrated to correct this effect.
• In consequence, migration is designed to restore
seismic reflectors to their proper x—y position
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Seismic Surveying

Pre-migration Migrated stack

Note improvement of data/image quality
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Seismic Surveying
• Seismic interpretation:
• Objective - to generate a coherent geologic story from
an array of seismic reflections.
• Involves tracing continuous reflectors across 2D grids
of seismic lines or throughout 3D data volumes.
• Three-dimensional seismic datasets are usually
interpreted on a workstation.
• The computer files contain the whole seismic volume,
which can be viewed or sliced in any direction.
Seismic Workstation
 Seismic Surveying - Interpretation
What Are DHIs?
DHI = Direct Hydrocarbon Indicator
• Seismic DHI’s are anomalous seismic responses related to the
presence of hydrocarbons

• Acoustic impedance of a porous rock decreases as hydrocarbon

replaces brine in pore spaces of the rock, causing a seismic
anomaly (DHI)

• There are a number of DHI signatures; we will look at a few

common ones:
– Amplitude anomaly
– Fluid contact reflection
– Fit to structural contours
 Typical Impedance Depth Trends
In general: IMPEDANCE x 103
5 10 15 20 25
3
• Oil sands are lower impedance than
water sands and shales 4 SHALE
OIL
• Gas sands are lower impedance than 5 Looking for SAND
shallow gas
oil sands

DEPTH x 103 FEET

6
• The difference in the impedance
tends to decrease with depth 7

• The larger the impedance difference 8

between the HC sand and it’s Looking for

deep oil
encasing shale, the greater the 9

anomaly
10
Data for Gulf Of Mexico Clastics
 DHIs: Amplitude Anomalies
Anomalous amplitudes

Change in amplitude
along the reflector

Low High Amplitude

 DHIs: Fluid Contacts
Hydrocarbons are Thicker Reservoir

lighter than water

and tend to form flat
events at the gas/oil
contact and the Fluid contact
oil/water contact. event

Thinner Reservoir

Fluid contact
event
DHIs: Fit to Structure

Since hydrocarbons are

lighter than water, the
fluid contacts and
associated anomalous
seismic events are
generally flat in depth
and therefore conform
to structure, i.e., mimic
a contour line

Courtesy of ExxonMobil
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Seismic Surveying
• Amplitude Variation with Offset (AVO)
• Variation in seismic reflection amplitude with change in
distance between shotpoint and receiver that indicates
differences in lithology and fluid content in rocks above
and below the reflector.
• AVO is a seismic technique that uses pre-stack seismic
data, to detect the presence of hydrocarbons in the
reservoir.
• In reservoir rock, AVO response is dependent on the
velocities of P- and S-waves and on density to define
the pore space and fluids within the rock matrix.
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Seismic Surveying
• AVO analysis is a technique by which geophysicists
attempt to determine thickness, porosity, density,
velocity, lithology and fluid content of rocks.
• A gas-filled sandstone might show increasing amplitude
with offset, whereas a coal might show decreasing
amplitude with offset.
 Intro to Exercise
Goal: To map the extent of the A1 gas-filled reservoir
W E

A1 Gas
Sand

Inline 840 Figure 1

L12 – Data Analysis

 Changes in Amplitude Indicate
Fluid
Gas Sand
Water Sand

Traces are
‘clipped’

Inline 840 Figure 1

 Fluids within the A1 Sand

Extent of Gas

Inline 840 Figure 1

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Seismic Surveying
• Salt dome
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Seismic Surveying
 v1 1  v 2  2
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Seismic Surveying
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Seismic Surveying