Advanced seismic technology improves prospect evaluation and

reservoir delineation in the mature Macuspana Basin, Mexico

EFRAÍN MÉNDEZ-HERNÁNDEZ, RAÚL VILA-VILLASEÑOR, ALEJANDRO SOSA-PATRÓN, FELIPE DE LA VEGA, and GUSTAVO HERNÁNDEZ-CARRERA, Pemex Exploración
y Producción
CARRIE DECKER, Gas Technology Institute, Houston, Texas, U.S.
MIKE BURNETT, Fusion Geophysical LLC, Norman, Oklahoma, U.S.
MOHAMED EISSA, DAN O’MEARA, and JOHN CASTAGNA, University of Oklahoma, Norman, U.S.

A n integrated study involving advanced seismic attribute

and reservoir characterization tools in Macuspana Basin of
Mexico provided an understanding of the structure, reservoir
continuity, and quality of three mature reservoirs that opti-
mized new drilling locations for exploration and development
and generated a reservoir model for simulation purposes.
Conventional and advanced technologies were integrated
after a feasibility analysis to generate several attribute cubes
over a 3D seismic volume; these included acoustic impedance,
amplitude variation with offset (AVO), porosity derived from
artificial neural network (ANN) schemes, and spectral decom-
position. These attributes, added to the structural and strati-
graphic analysis and to a J-function capillary pressure analysis,
yielded information on compartmentalization that provided
a geologic model to support reservoir delineation and char-
acterization.

Study area and database. Cobo, Bitzal, and Guiro fields are
in Macuspana Basin, state of Tabasco, southeastern Mexico
(Figure 1). The Cobo area, which includes the Cobo, Bitzal,
and Guiro fields, is stratigraphically and structurally complex;
its complexity is comparable to that of many other gas-pro-
ducing fields in Macuspana Basin in which the dominant trap
mechanisms vary from fault-assisted closures with a strati-
graphic component to purely stratigraphic traps. The fields
have produced gas for more than 20 years from a series of
thin, principally Plio-Pleistocene sands thought to be fluvial-
to-deltaic in origin. Cobo fields are cut by many NE-SW strik-
ing faults. Some northwest-dipping faults exhibit classic
growth fault geometries; some show evidence for reactivation
and inversion. This complexity, coupled with older well data,
makes analysis using traditional exploration and reservoir
characterization tools challenging.
Historically in Cobo fields, selection of well locations
depended first on structural and stratigraphic analysis using
limited 2D seismic; then, when 3D seismic became available,
3D seismic interpretation, detailed amplitude analysis, and
AVO schemes were used as the basis for proposing new well
sites. Amplitude, AVO, and resistivity measurements at wells
had been shown to be very sensitive to the presence of gas.
However, at earlier stages in the work on these fields, it was
difficult to distinguish between gas and fresh water or to
gauge economic volumes of gas as indicated by these attrib-
utes. Additionally, stratigraphic and/or structural disconti-
nuities as well as compartmentalization issues that restrict
reservoir size and isolate potential reservoirs were critical
aspects of any interpretation in the study area. We proposed
that the best results could be provided by integrating the
structural and stratigraphic analyses with the interpretation
of cubes of conventional and more robust attributes, thin bed
analyses, and schemes to predict compartmentalization. The
advantage of the approach used in this study is that, by assess-
ing each potential new well location with respect to all attrib-
utes, first priority could be given to those sites that were
supported by the most data.
Figure 1. Map of Cobo area.
The Cobo area was selected as a pilot project to demon-
strate the applicability of this integrated approach to other
mature fields after a feasibility analysis was performed on three
seismic cubes acquired in producing areas of Macuspana
Basin. Criteria for evaluation included quality of seismic data;
availability of well and production data (including new data
and data from nearby fields); quality of well data (i.e., inter-
pretability, need for editing, and correlatibility); demonstrated
ability of seismic to predict production zones; and appropri-
ateness of technology for identified geologic problems.
Available seismic and well data in the Cobo area included
a 3D seismic study covering approximately 160 km2 (vertical
seismic resolution was on the order of 30-40 m), migrated
prestack gathers, AVO attribute cubes for Cobo and Bitzal
fields, scarce well log data for 20 wells (sonic was available
for eight wells although there was just one neutron porosity
log), and one check-shot survey. Production data for the last
20 years from most to all wells including producing and non-
producing intervals, production tests, pressures, and pro-
duction profiles were also available to assist the interpretation.
The following workflow was proposed to accomplish the
objectives for the study area: (1) collection of data, division of
project into pilot area for extrapolation of physical properties
and area beyond extrapolation; (2) log editing; (3) log inter-
pretation/correlation and production data review; (4) con-
straining initial depositional/structural model; (5) generation
of pseudologs; (6) well tie and synthetics; (7) 3D structural
interpretation; (8) time-depth conversion and extrapolation;
(9) thin bed analysis through enhanced spectral decomposi-
tion; (10) poststack inversion; (11) analysis of AVO response;
(12) analysis for changes in sand quality, across faults; (13) arti-
ficial neural network inversion; (14) interpretation of attribute
cubes; (15) geologic model building; (16) compartmentaliza-
tion analyses; (17) identification/evaluation of prospects and
prediction of development sites. Both readily available com-
mercial and proprietary software were used.

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Figure 2. Inline through Cobo Field showing representative structure.
Figure 3. Stratigraphic correlation through Cobo Field illustrating net
sands and GWCs.
Figure 4. Validation of porosity calculation based on linear regression
with correction for shale. On the left, measured neutron porosity in a pilot
well is plotted against calculated porosity. On the right, measured and
calculated logs show close correlation.
Key results of supporting analyses included (1) detailed
correlation of sands; (2) detailed interpretation of faults and
horizons; (3) petrophysics, calibrated to be consistent with pro-
duction data; and (4) J-function analyses, yielding informa-
tion on compartmentalization.
Structural and stratigraphic interpretation. Objectives of the
3D interpretation were to build a framework and/or gener-
ate supporting data for advanced seismic attribute analysis
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and geologic model building by extending mapped horizons
as much as possible outside the area of dense well control,
and defining the fault pattern in detail. Figure 2 is a cross-sec-
tion displaying the structural style in the study area. Horizon
interpretation was focused on seven sand bodies with 40 inter-
preted faults. The highly faulted sands strongly suggested that
compartmentalization is to be expected. It could also be appre-
ciated that the physical attributes of sands vary from one fault
block to another, as does their seismic response, which must
be considered in terms of generating and interpreting seis-
mically derived attribute cubes. Additionally, correlation of
sands in different fault blocks can be very challenging due to
stratigraphic variability. Aims of the stratigraphic correlation
were to homogenize stratigraphic nomenclature, map the
areal extent of sands, observe fault style, and preliminary
evaluation of potential deepwater sands (Figure 3). The obser-
vations are consistent with (a) deposition of Cobo sands as
stacked bar sands, with bars elongated northeast-southwest,
paralleling the paleoshoreline and the primary fault fabric
model; (b) reactivation and inversion of large-offset growth
faults; and (c) sands of deepwater origin to the north and west
of Cobo and Bitzal fields may act as potential reservoirs with
stratigraphic traps (e.g., pinchouts), but amplitude anomalies
are weak relative to those observed in areas with known pro-
duction.
Well log analysis. Editing of well logs was a critical step in
the project considering the limited logging suite and the pres-
ence of older well data. Final log interpretation yielded the
general petrophysical characteristics of the Cobo fields includ-
ing the calculation of porosity, permeability, volume to shale,
and hydrocarbon saturation curves. Calculated logs were eval-
uated using production information. Results were generally
good below 600-650 m; above this depth, calculated logs were
not considered reliable. Based on the comparison with pro-
duction data, several compensations were applied to the result-
ing curves. During the review of calculated log data with
respect to production information, two new zones in existing
wells were identified that could potentially produce gas or
fresh water.
The limited log data required unconventional log analy-
sis calibrated in wells with porosity logs. Porosity logs were
calculated using three different methods (1) directly from SP,
(2) directly from sonic for those wells that had sonic logs, and
(3) from linear regression including depth as a parameter; all
included corrections for shale volume. The results were com-
pared to the one existing neutron porosity log, which was used
for calibration (Figure 4). The quality of the subsequent analy-
ses strongly depended on these computed porosity logs.
Well-seismic tie and time-depth conversion. Typically, sonic
and density data are used to generate synthetic seismograms
that are in turn used to tie well log data to seismic. In the Cobo
area, sonic logs were scarce, and no density logs were avail-
able, therefore it was necessary to generate pseudosonic and
pseudodensity curves from the existing log data through the
following procedure at each well:
• A pseudosonic log was estimated from the resistivity log.
• For wells with sonic logs, Faust’s equation was calibrated
by crossplotting real sonic log data versus pseudosonic log
data (Figure 5).
• Using production information to identify gas-bearing zones,
fluid substitution using the Biot-Gassman equation was per-
formed where necessary. In addition, fluid substitution was
used for zones with a strong high resistivity signature and
SP expression.
NOVEMBER 2003 THE LEADING EDGE 1143

Figure 5. Crossplot showing strong correlation of pseudosonic data to
actual sonic data (where available).
Figure 6. AVO attributes were analyzed to check for consistency with
producing zones and/or zones whose well logs indicate high resistivity.
Once it was demonstrated that there was a good-to-excellent match
between AVO and presence or indication of gas, new potential locations
were identified for each interpreted sand.
Figure 7. Sparse spike inversion. The downdip low-impedance anomaly
can be indicative of gas.
• The Gardner and mass-balance equations were used to gen-
erate the pseudodensity log.
Pseudologs and a zero-phase wavelet extracted from the
seismic data in the vicinity of each well were used to create
synthetic seismograms, which were then tied to real seismic.
The resulting match between synthetic and seismic was good
to excellent.
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Previously, a single time-depth function based on the
checkshot survey (in the northernmost part of the seismic vol-
ume) was used for the entire area. However, highly variable
sand properties suggested that the time-depth relationship was
not constant over the whole seismic cube. In this project, a time-
depth curve was determined at each well, based initially on
ties between synthetic and real seismic.
Generation of seismic attribute cubes. A critical step to com-
pare effectiveness of various attributes in the Cobo area was
the good tie between the wells and seismic data. Seismic con-
ditioning prior to the attribute extraction included proper
amplitude balancing and Radon transform noise suppression
on seismic gathers as well as a “whitened” cube yielding
greater resolution for seismic interpretation. Because differ-
ent advanced seismic attribute analyses require different data
as input, the resulting cubes were focused on areas where input
quality was best and most densely distributed, ensuring the
most reliable results. Final attribute volumes extracted from
the seismic were:
1) AVO attributes. The effectiveness of different AVO attrib-
utes was compared and calibrated to well data. As a result,
intercept, gradient, and intercept
gradient cubes for each
of three cases (Radon with long window AGC, Radon with-
out AGC, and Radon with mean scaling) were created and
analyzed to check for consistency with producing zones
and/or zones whose well logs indicated high resistivity. This
task required knowledge of velocity, phase, polarity, and tun-
ing effects. The attributes demonstrated a good-to-excellent
match with the presence or indication of gas delineating strati-
graphic and structural discontinuities better than conven-
tional 3D seismic. These results were useful to identify new
potential locations on the interpreted sands (Figure 6). Eleven
such potential locations that were unique from existed
prospects were finally documented.
2) Impedance cubes. Three methods were used to invert
seismic data for acoustic impedance. A preliminary band-lim-
ited inversion was initially performed. This method depends
only on the 3D seismic data. Sparse-spike (dependent on both
seismic and well log data) and model-based (dependent on
seismic, well log data, and an initial model constrained by hori-
zons interpreted from the 3D seismic) inversions were also
performed. Sparse-spike and model-based inversion results
were quite similar. Although results are nonunique, acoustic
impedance could be interpreted in the study area consider-
ing that desirable reservoirs may exhibit lower values; how-
ever, this attribute cannot be used to differentiate between
porous and tight sands interbedded with varying amounts of
shale (Figure 7).
3) Porosity and resistivity cubes by ANN inversion. The neural
network approach employs an artificial representation of the
human brain that attempts to simulate a learning process. ANN
inversion defines a relationship, which is basically nonlinear,
between measured or calculated well log data and seismic data
using a supervised neural network, then uses the seismic cube
to predict what the log response would be if there were wells
at each inline/crossline intersection, resulting in an attribute
volume. Training and validation as well as a good time-depth
correlation are critical steps in the process. For both porosity
and resistivity, separate cubes were generated for Cobo Field
and Bitzal/Guiro fields using a time- and stratigraphically
varying neural network to limit lateral variability within a cube
with an acceptable degree of confidence. Also, once initial val-
idation was achieved, to account for the effect of structural
complexity, all available wells were used to train the network.
To correct for changes in the relationship with depth, verti-
Figure 8. Porosity section extracted from artificial neural network inversion highlighting Sand 11 at Cobo Field. Arrows indicate producing zones.

cally stacked subcubes were trained with different networks

and ultimately merged to produce each final attribute cube.
We recognize that the best results were achieved in a window
above 1200-1300 ms. Below this depth, there were fewer wells
to constrain the inversion. The resistivity cube, in particular,
was very useful in terms of generating leads. The porosity cube
preserved reservoir heterogeneity observed in seismic away
from areas of well control and followed the existing geologic
trends being also used to populate the geologic model taken
to simulation (Figure 8).
4) Spectrally decomposed cubes, generated by enhanced spectral
decomposition (ESP). Instantaneous spectral analysis is a wavelet
transform time-frequency spectral analysis appropriate to any
geology, which allows anomalies to be seen on spectrally
decomposed sections that may not be apparent on broad-
band seismic. The methodology can be used as a direct hydro-
carbon detector for soft clastics. Seismically thin beds can be
preferentially illuminated at the tuning frequency. To test the
efficacy of ESP in Cobo Field, the method was initially applied
to an arbitrary line through producing wells. At the produc-
ing sand the ESP attribute displayed anomalously high ampli-
tudes (Figure 9).

Joint interpretation of attribute cubes. Interpretation of

attribute cubes focused on the identification of anomalous
zones that could be considered indicative of the presence of
gas. Such an anomalous zone was considered a “lead” if it
was located in at least one cube, and this location would be
further studied with respect to the other attribute cubes for
confirmation of the presence of gas and/or the presence of
favorable reservoir attributes (sand, high porosity). The fol-
lowing attribute cubes were used to generate leads: amplitude,
AVO (all cubes), sparse-spike inversion, resistivity, and spec-
tral decomposition.
Compartmentalization analysis and model building. It was
extremely useful to generate a geologic (geocellular) model
integrating geophysical information with production infor-
Figure 9. Arbitrary line through ESP cube at Cobo wells 1-3 for 20, 30,
and 50 Hz. Higher amplitudes at 50 Hz (red) correspond to producing
interval (Sand 11). Note that Cobo 1 has no anomaly and no production.
mation. Such a geologic model resulted in a good visualiza-
tion tool; it allowed the determination of the stochastic dis-
tribution of reservoir properties to be compared to seismically
derived properties for further computation and reservoir man-
agement (Figures 10 and 11). In this project, two crude mod-
els were generated; one for Cobo Field and the other for Bitzal,

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 Figure 10. Geologic model of Cobo Field.
Figure 11. Porosity and permeability models of Bitzal Field.
using modeling software, three (basal, intermediate, and
upper) surfaces and all faults (± five faults) that are thought
to influence reservoir communication.
The geologic models were used as a framework for Leverett
J-function analysis, a method for comparing capillary pres-
sure curve data in dimensionless form for rocks of different
types. In order to conduct the J-function analysis, J-facies logs
needed to be defined. Three distinct J-facies logs were estab-
lished for Cobo Field. For the purposes of this project, the most
1146 THE LEADING EDGE NOVEMBER 2003
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Figure 12. Compartmentalization in
sand 11 based on J-function analysis
by the distribution of free water eleva-
tions (FWE).
important result of J-function analysis was the prediction of
compartmentalization by the distribution of free-water ele-
vations—FWE (Figures 12 and 13). Different free-water ele-
vations in wells that appear separated by small offset faults
indicated probable compartmentalization. Faults may or may
not be effective compartment boundaries. Alternatively, com-
partmentalization issues were complemented by stratigraphic
discontinuities, which were also consistent with the deposi-
tional environment in the Cobo area. Some new leads were
evaluated in terms of isolation from existing wells by faults.
Evaluation of prospects and prediction of development sites.
Under the structural and stratigraphic framework and the cal-
ibrated attribute cubes quantitatively derived from the seis-
mic, prospective areas were identified and evaluated. Since a
lead was picked based on a single attribute cube, each lead
was then evaluated with respect to all the available data,
including amplitude, AVO, impedance, porosity, resistivity,
and spectral decomposition, as well as structural position and
risk of communication with a currently producing well. Aloca-
tion for which gas was indicated by all or most of the data
was then designated a potential target. For these potential tar-
gets, very rough volumetrics were estimated as an aid to the
final interpretation.
Material balance concepts were applied to evaluate
reserves based on available production data. It is predicted
that some potential targets based on lead evaluation will be
principally for development, as compartment size is estimated

Figure 13. Cross-section between wells that showed FWE (sand 11) in
Figure 12. Sands appear to be continuous in 3D seismic amplitude data.
to be smaller to much smaller. Additional inferences regard-
ing delineation and reservoir quality based on the geologic
` NOVEMBER 2003
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modeling and the compartmentalization analysis will be highly
useful to reduce the uncertainty of the interwell prediction of
physical properties to design better development strategies
in the future.
Conclusions. The integrated application of conventional and
new technologies in the Cobo area was useful to illustrate the
successful prediction of physical properties as an aim to resolve
geologic complexities that present challenges for traditional
exploration and reservoir characterization approaches. The fol-
lowed methodology improved reservoir delineation and char-
acterization supporting and suggesting many exploration
opportunities in the study area. Such methodology including
a good understanding of the geologic model and proper recog-
nition of those seismic attributes which better predict reser-
voir properties is strongly recommended to be applicable to
other analogous areas of Macuspana and other gasiferous
Mexican basins. TLE
Acknowledgments: We thank the Coordination of Exploration Strategies and
the Macuspana Exploration Asset at Pemex E&P for the support that was
crucial to the success of this project and for permission to publish these results.
Our gratitude to Adán Oviedo-Pérez, Arturo Pérez-Aldana, Quintín
Cárdenas-Jamet, and Alvar Sosa-Patrón for their valuable suggestions.
Special thanks to the Institute for Exploration and Development Geosciences
at the University of Oklahoma for the permission to use its proprietary soft-
ware during the development of this project.
Corresponding author: emendezh@pep.pemex.com
THE LEADING EDGE 1147