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Estimation of total organic carbon and brittleness volume

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 t Technical papers

Estimation of total organic carbon and brittleness volume

Sumit Verma1, Tao Zhao2, Kurt J. Marfurt2, and Deepak Devegowda3
Downloaded 02/19/18 to 104.219.112.138. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; see Terms of Use at http://library.seg.org/

Abstract
The Barnett Shale in the Fort Worth Basin is one of the most important resource plays in the USA. The total
organic carbon (TOC) and brittleness can help to characterize a resource play to assist in the search for sweet
spots. Higher TOC or organic content are generally associated with hydrocarbon storage and with rocks that are
ductile in nature. However, brittle rocks are more amenable to fracturing with the fractures faces more resistant
to proppant embedment. Productive intervals within a resource play should therefore contain a judicious mix of
organics and mineralogy that lends to hydraulic fracturing. Identification of these intervals through core acquis-
ition and laboratory-based petrophysical measurements can be accurate but expensive in comparison with wire-
line logging. We have estimated TOC from wireline logs using Passey’s method and attained a correlation of 60%.
However, errors in the baseline interpretation can lead to inaccurate TOC. Using nonlinear regression with
Passey’s TOC, normalized stratigraphic height, and acquired wireline logs, the correlation increased to 80%.
This regression can be applied to uncored wells with logs to estimate TOC, and we used it as a ground truth
in integrated analysis of seismic and well log data. The brittleness index (BI) is computed based on core Fourier
transform infrared mineralogy using Wang and Gale’s formula. The correlation between core BI and estimated
BI using elastic logs (λρ, μρ, V P ∕V S , ZP , and ZS ) combined with wireline logs was 78%. However, this correlation
decreases to 66% if the BI is estimated using only wireline logs. Therefore, the later serves as a less reliable
proxy. We have correlated production to volumetric estimate of TOC and brittleness by computing distance-
weighted averages in 120 horizontal wells. We have obtained a production correlation of 38% on blind wells,
which was encouraging, suggesting that the geologic component in completions provides an important contri-
bution to well success.

Introduction with different methods (Sondergeld et al., 2010). Pas-

Total organic carbon (TOC) and brittleness are the
two most important parameters for resource play char-
acterization. In general, resource plays have low per-
meability and require hydraulic fracturing to obtain
economic production. Rocks that are brittle (those that
have a high brittleness index [BI]) can be fractured
more easily than rocks that are ductile (those that have
a low BI, Wang and Gale, 2009). In general, a high TOC is
associated with a higher clay content; these ductile rocks
are more difficult to fracture and are less resistant to
proppant embedment. The sweet spot is often character-
ized by laminated brittle-ductile couplets (Slatt and
Abousleiman, 2011). In such situations, the well is drilled
and completed in the brittle rock that provides high-per-
meable pathways after fracturing into the associated
high-TOC rock.
TOC can be measured on core data directly in a lab-
oratory and can also be estimated using wireline logs
sey’s method (Passey et al., 1990) is one of the most
popular approaches to quantify TOC, but it requires
an interpreter definition of baselines on the porosity
and resistivity logs. Errors in defining the baselines re-
sult in inaccurate TOC estimates.
Several well log responses can indicate the presence
of TOC. High gamma ray response can be correlated
with high uranium content in organic matter (Fertl and
Chilingar, 1988). Organic matter is less dense than ma-
trix minerals resulting in a low value on the bulk density
log (Schmoker and Hester, 1983). Additionally, transit
times recorded on the P-sonic log may increase in the
presence of organic matter (Passey et al., 1990; Sonder-
geld et al., 2010). Neutron logs may also provide a high
response in the presence of organic matter (Sondergeld
et al., 2010). Organic matter being nonconductive, the
resistivity logs read high values for high TOC (Passey
et al., 1990).

1
The University of Wyoming, Geology and Geophysics, Laramie, Wyoming, USA. E-mail: sumit.verma.geophysicist@gmail.com.
2
The University of Oklahoma, ConocoPhillips School of Geology and Geophysics, Norman, Oklahoma, USA. E-mail: tao-zhao@ou.edu; kmarfurt@
ou.edu.
3
The University of Oklahoma, The Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering, Norman, Oklahoma, USA. E-mail: deepak.
devegowda@ou.edu.
Manuscript received by the Editor 2 October 2015; revised manuscript received 16 February 2016; published online 29 June 2016. This paper
appears in Interpretation, Vol. 4, No. 3 (August 2016); p. T373–T385, 17 FIGS., 6 TABLES.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1190/INT-2015-0166.1. © 2016 Society of Exploration Geophysicists and American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

Interpretation / August 2016 T373

 Jarvie et al. (2007) define BI as a measure of brittle-
ness based on mineralogy and indicate that an increase
in the volume percentage of quartz (brittle) or decrease
in clay (ductile) or carbonate (ductile) percentages will
increase the brittleness. Wang and Gale (2009) modify
the formula by adding TOC and dolomite to the original
definition of BI in which an increase in dolomite (brit-
Downloaded 02/19/18 to 104.219.112.138. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; see Terms of Use at http://library.seg.org/
tle) increases the BI whereas an increase in TOC (duc-
tile) decreases the BI. Li et al. (2015) and Li et al. (2016)
correlate attenuation attributes for fracture characteri-
zation. Rickman et al. (2008) provide a way to estimate
average brittleness with elastic properties such as
Young’s modulus (Kumar et al., 2012) and Poisson’s ra-
tio. Zhang et al. (2015) derive Young’s modulus and
Poisson’s ratio with prestack inversion and are able
to estimate volume of brittleness with Rickman’s equa-
tion. Perez and Marfurt (2014), working on Barnett
Shale, create templates for brittleness with λρ and μρ
based on core and well log data and extend the template
to compute a volume of brittleness from λρ and μρ 3D
volumes. Zhang et al. (2015) derive 10 classes of brittle-
ness on a cored well using a support vector machine
classifier using elastic logs (Z P , Z S , μ∕λ, σ) and Wang
and Gale’s BI. They then apply these classes to the volu-
Figure 1. Areal extent of the Mississippian Barnett Shale,
FWB, Texas (Aydemir, 2011). The red and blue circles indi-
cate the approximate location of cored wells A and B, used
in this study. The magnified rectangle shows wells A and B
with respect to the seismic survey.
T374 Interpretation / August 2016
metric estimates of Z P , Z S , μ∕λ, and σ to obtain a brit-
tleness volume.
Brittleness varies with mineralogy and wireline logs
tend to be sensitive to changes in mineralogy. There-
fore, wireline logs can provide an indirect measurement
of BI. For example, quartz is not radioactive and exhib-
its a low gamma ray response whereas clay, which has
radioactive minerals, produces a high gamma ray re-
sponse. Quartz is a heavier mineral compared to clay
on a bulk density log. Limestone often exhibits high re-
sistivity compared to clay. The P-wave velocity is higher
in limestone, lower in quartz, and lowest in clay.
Verma et al. (2012) estimate gamma ray volume with
well log and seismic attribute volumes. We follow a sim-
ilar workflow to estimate TOC and BI volumes in the
Lower Barnett Shale (LBS).
We begin with an overview of the geology of the
study area. Next, we describe the methodology of esti-
mating TOC and brittleness using core and well log data
and then an extension to 3D seismic volumes. We dem-
onstrate the utility of our approach by correlating the
volumetric estimates of TOC and BI to first 90 days of
production and highlight the strong link between pro-
duction and rock productivity and amenability to frac-
turing.
Geology of the study area
The high TOC Mississippian-age Barnett Shale is an
unconventional resource play in the Fort Worth Basin
(FWB) in Texas, USA (Figure 1). The FWB is a shallow
north–south elongated foreland basin formed at a con-
vergent plate boundary during the Late Paleozoic
(Walper, 1982). The FWB is bordered by the Ouachita
thrust belt, the structural Bend arch, and the Precam-
brian Llano uplift.
The FWB basement is comprised of Precambrian
granodiorites and metasediments. In the Cambrian, the
Wilberns, Riley, and Hickory Formations were depos-
ited, followed by the Ellenberger and Viola Limestone
Formations during the Ordovician (Montgomery, 2005).
In the study area in the northeast FWB, the Viola Lime-
stone is partially eroded, with the Barnett Shale depos-
ited on the unconformity. The Barnett Shale sequence is
characterized by alternating shallow marine limestones
and black organic-rich shales. In the area of study, the
Barnett Shale is separated into upper and lower shale
units by the intervening Forestburg Limestone, which
thins and disappears to the southwest. The Viola in the
area of study is not highly karsted and forms an effec-
tive fracture barrier.
Methodology
The methodology consists of two steps (Figure 2).
First, we correlate TOC and BI acquired from core data
to wireline logs to form a proxy for common triple
combo logs; TOC was measured with Rock Eval pyroly-
sis, whereas BI was computed with Fourier transform
infrared mineralogy using Wang and Gale’s formula on
cores obtained from two wells. We then use this corre-
 lation to predict TOC and BI at the 37 logged (but un-
cored) wells that fall within the 3D seismic survey (Fig-
ure 1). Second, we use the well log predictions at the 37
wells as truth and correlate them to a suite of seismic
attributes extracted in the vicinity of the wells. This fi-
nal correlation provided a volumetric estimate of TOC
and BI at each voxel within the LBS.
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a ¼ 0.297 − 0.1688 × LOM; (3)
RTD is the deep resistivity in any zone (Ωm), RTDBase
is the deep resistivity baseline in nonsource rock (Ωm),
RHOB is bulk density (g∕cm3 ), RHOBase is bulk density
baseline in nonsource rock (g∕cm3 ), and LOM is the
level of thermal maturity.

Most of the production in the Barnett Shale comes The RTD baseline is interpreter dependent. For
from the LBS in the study area. For our study, we used well A, we used RTDbase ¼ 5 Ωm and RHOBbase ¼
data from two cored wells, which are outside of the 2.58 g∕cm3 (Figure 3); LOM has been correlated with
seismic survey area. We applied a depth shift (bulk vitrinite reflectance (RO ) (Crain’s Petro-physical Hand-
shift)
2 ft on the core measurements,
which increased the correlation of well
logs to the core data. Both cores com-
pletely sample the LBS, part of the For-
estburg, and the Upper Barnett Shale.
Well A lies less than 1 mi to the north-
east whereas well B lies approximately
21 miles to the southwest boundary of
the seismic survey (Figure 1). There are
approximately 50 vertical wells in the
survey area containing neutron, density,
and deep resistivity logs. An additional
40 vertical wells lack these log suites
and will not be used. Approximately
13 wells out of 50 do not have complete
well logs in the LBS. Finally, for the
analysis in this work, we selected 37
wells, which have neutron, density, and
deep resistivity logs. Out of these 37
wells, a few have completely or partially
missing neutron porosity and P-sonic,
and we use a neutral network method to
predict the missing well logs. In the
study area, we also have 261 vertical and
120 horizontal wells and the correspond- Figure 2. Workflow for generation of TOC and BI volume.
ing first 90 days of production with no
well logs.

Correlating core to wireline

measurements
TOC estimation using Passey’s
equation
Passey’s (1990) method, which is also
called the delta-log R method, requires a
resistivity log along with a porosity log
such as P-sonic, density, or neutron
log to estimate the TOC using the follow-
ing equations:

Δ log R ¼ log10 ðRTD∕RTDBaseÞ − 2.5

× ðRHOB − RHOBbaseÞ;
TOC ¼ ðΔ log R × 10a Þ;
where
(1) Figure 3. Interpretation of baseline for density and deep resistivity on well A.
The ideal baseline would be a shale/silt stone with zero total organic carbon.
Black solid straight line on bulk density (RHOB) curve indicates RHOBbase
(2) and red solid straight line on deep resistivity (RTD) curve indicates RTDBase.
Note that we can also choose green dotted line as the baseline selection that is
interpreter’s choice.

Interpretation / August 2016 T375

 book, 2015) and indicates the thermal maturity of the
rock. We obtained an average vitrinite reflectance (RO )
value of 1.2 for the study area from Pollastro (2007). For
these values of RO , LOM values fall between 10 and 12.
We evaluated several LOM values between 10 and 12,
and we found that TOC computed with LOM ¼ 11.5 pro-
vides the best match with core TOC measurements. We
Downloaded 02/19/18 to 104.219.112.138. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; see Terms of Use at http://library.seg.org/
then used the same values of RTDBase, RHOBbase, and
LOM for all the wells in the survey area.
Figure 4 shows that the TOC computed with Passey’s
method follows the trend of core-derived TOC on wells
A and B. Figure 5 shows that the TOC correlation
(between core measurements and TOC computed with
Passey’s method) on well A for which the baseline was
Figure 4. Gamma ray (GR), bulk density (RHOB), neutron porosity (NPHI),
deep resistivity (RTD), P-Sonic, TOC computed with Passey et al.’s (1990)
method (TOC_Passey), normalized stratigraphic height (Norm_Height), core
measured TOC with Rock-Eval Pyrolysis (Core_TOC in green) along with neu-
ral-network-estimated TOC (TOC_PNN in black), and Wang and Gale’s (2009)
computed BI (BI_W_G in dotted black line) as well as neural-network-estimated
BI (BI_PNN in pink line) at (a) wells A, and (b) B.
T376 Interpretation / August 2016
chosen is higher than the correlation for well B located
30 mi away from well A. Even though these correlations
are satisfactory with values of 60% and 55%, respec-
tively, we document an approach to improve our pre-
diction accuracy using multilinear regression.
Multilinear regression
Multilinear regression is routinely used to estimate
missing well logs (Holmes et al., 2003). In this work,
we wish to estimate a TOC log using the density, neu-
tron porosity, gamma ray, deep induction (deep resistiv-
ity), and P-sonic well logs as well as two computed logs,
namely, Passey’s TOC and normalized stratigraphic
height (Figure 6). Kale (2009) in an analysis of core
acquired from well A find an increase
in porosity with TOC. Hydrocarbons
exhibit higher resistivity than saline
water clastic rocks, which suggests that
the deep resistivity may be sensitive to
TOC. Using a baseline from well A, we
computed TOC with Passey’s method
on approximately 37 wells within the
seismic survey area.
Figure 6 shows that the LBS thick-
ness decreases from the northeast (A′)
to the southwest (A). Using gamma ray
logs, Singh (2008) correlate nine parase-
quence sets along AA′ in the LBS. This
correlation suggests the use of nor-
malized stratigraphic height, Z n ∶Z n ¼
ðZ Viola − ZÞ∕ðZ Viola − Z LBS Þ, where Z is
the depth of a log sample, and Z Viola and
Z LBS are the tops of the Viola Limestone
and the LBS in that well.
While performing multilinear regres-
sion, we allow the core-measured TOC
to be correlated with samples in a win-
dow around adjacent locations on the
well logs. Such flexibility compensates
for the residual depth mismatch between
the core and well log. We compute cor-
relations and errors for different combi-
nations of input logs (up to five) and
window sizes from
0 to
4 ft (Figure 7).
The average validation correlation serves
as the search criteria for stepwise multi-
linear regression for including well logs
in the regression model (Hampson et al.,
2001). Validation correlation is the corre-
lation computed by including all the
wells in the regression except the well at
which the validation correlation is to be
computed. Validation correlation is com-
puted on all the wells one by one, and
then the average of such correlations is
computed. We found that a window of

1 ft and four input logs provided an
average validation correlation of 70%
and a training correlation of 76% (Table 1).
 Inclusion of a fifth log increased validation error, which
indicates overtraining.
Given the multilinear regression between log-derived
and core-derived TOC, we then select logs to use in
a nonlinear neural network for TOC estimation. We,
therefore, use with well A to train the neural network
and obtain a training correlation of 80% and the blind
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well correlation (on well B) of 73% (Figure 8). With this

confidence, we used the trained neural network to es-
timate the TOC on the 37 uncored wells inside the seis-
mic survey area.

Brittleness estimation using Wang and Gale’s

equation
Brittleness is a measure to quantify the ability of rock
to fracture (Wang and Gale, 2009). Brittleness depends
on rock strength, texture, effective stress, temperature,
lithology, fluid type diagenesis, and TOC. Jarvie et al.
(2007) define the BI based on mineralogy. Wang and
Gale (2009) modify their equation by including TOC
and subdividing the carbonates into dolomite and lime-
stone:
Q þ Dol
BI ¼ ; (4)
Q þ Dol þ Lm þ Cl þ TOC

where BI is brittleness index, Q is quartz, Dol is dolomite,

LM is limestone, Cl is clay, and TOC is total organic
carbon.
Figure 9 shows the computed BI on the two cored
wells. The Wang and Gale’s (2009) formula includes
TOC in the denominator, which indicates that the BI
is modified by TOC. It appears that an increase in TOC
would decrease BI significantly. However, TOC does
not have such a large impact on the BI because the
Figure 5. Crossplot between core-measured TOC and TOC
TOC is generally is less than 5%. computed with Passey’s method. (a) Well A on which we de-
fine the baseline and (b) another cored well B.
Correlation with wireline logs
We use an analogous workflow to TOC estimation to
generate BI logs for wells inside the seismic survey
area. In stepwise multilinear regression,
the neutron log has the highest correla-
tion with the BI (Table 2)

BI ¼ 0.0477 × NPHI2 − 0.186 × Density2

þ 2.7 × 10−8 RTD2 þ 1.74; (5)

where NPHI is neutron porosity (frac-

tion) and RTD is the deep resistivity.
The multilinear training produces a
correlation of 66% with
2 ft window
length and three input well logs. We use
a list of the best attributes obtained by
the multilinear regression in the neural
network training. We trained the net-
work with well A and obtained a training
correlation of 68% and a blind well (well
B) correlation of 63% (Figure 10). Given Figure 6. Cross-section AA′ showing subsurface stratigraphic correlation using
this validation, we used the trained neu- gamma ray log (modified after Singh, 2008).

Interpretation / August 2016 T377

 ral network to compute BI on the wells inside the seis-
mic survey area.
Volumetric estimation of TOC and brittleness
The area of study is located in the FWB and has ap-
proximately 30 mi2 of 3D seismic data (Figure 1) and 37
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tral magnitude components from 10 to 90 Hz at 10 Hz
intervals, total energy). In a manner similar to well-log-
based prediction of TOC, we compute normalized strati-
graphic height volume with equation, T n ∶T n ¼ ðT Viola −
TÞ∕ðT Viola − T LBS Þ where T is the time of seismic sam-
ple, and T Viola and T LBS are tops of the Viola Limestone
and the LBS surface in that seismic trace. The process

wells with previously estimated TOC and BIs. A total of

30 wells with TOC (and BI) logs were chosen for the
training part of the analysis. We used a commercial soft-
ware package, which predicts reservoir properties us-
ing seismic attributes and well log data. To minimize
spurious correlations (Kalkomey, 1997), we restrict
the choice of attributes to those that directly correlate
with either lithology (acoustic impedance, shear imped-
ance, V P ∕V S and lambda-rho and mu-rho — computed
by Perez, 2013) or stratigraphic stacking patterns (spec-
can be divided into three steps (Figure 11). First, we
need to define the attributes used and the vertical zone
of influence (defined as a convolutional operator) in
which the well logs are correlated with seismic attrib-
utes. The best attributes and operator length result in
the minimum validation error. Extending the operator
length is equivalent to adding attributes at adjacent stra-
tal slices to the stepwise linear regression workflow, in-
creasing the chances for false-positive correlations as
documented in Kalkomey (1997). Because our peak fre-
quency is approximately 50 Hz, we limit the window
lengths to be less than
20 ms.

Figure 7. Multilinear regression analysis input and output for

TOC computation from core to well.

Table 1. TOC estimated with window of
1 ft has least

validation error and highest correlation with four well
logs.4

Training Valid Correlation

Well log error error (%)

Passey’s TOC 1.09 1.12 60

Neutron porosity 0.96 0.97 70
Induction deep 0.94 0.96 74
Normalized 0.92 0.95 76
height
Density 0.91 0.95 76
Gamma ray 0.91 0.95 77
P-sonic 0.91 0.95 77 Figure 8. Crossplot between core measured TOC and neural-
network-estimated TOC. (a) Well A, which was used to train
4
With
1 ft weighted window. the neural network, and (b) another cored well B.

T378 Interpretation / August 2016

 Volumetric TOC estimation Table 2. BI estimated with window of
2 ft has least
Using multilinear regression, we determine an oper- validation error and highest correlation with four well
logs.5
ator length of
8 ms with four attributes, which pro-
vides the maximum correlation (Table 3) for TOC
estimation. The training correlation was 84% and the Training Validation Correction
average training error was 0.58%. Well log error error (%)
Given this suite of attributes and operator length, the
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Neutron porosity 0.110 0.120 46

second step is to relax the assumption of linear relation-
Density 0.094 0.105 64
ships obtained via multilinear regression to allow a non-
linear relationship using a probabilistic neural network Induction deep 0.092 0.101 66
(PNN) with Gaussian weighting functions. The PNN Normalized height 0.092 0.105 67
training correlation was 87% and the average validation P-sonic 0.092 0.108 67
correlation on the three blind test wells x, y, and z is PNN TOC 0.091 0.109 68
72% as shown in Figure 12a and 12b. In the third and
5
With
2 ft weighted window.
final steps, the trained network is applied to generate
a 3D volume of TOC (Figure 12b).

Figure 9. Gamma ray well log and core-mea-

sured mineralogy, quartz, total limestone, to-
tal clay, dolomite along with core-measured
TOC and BI computed with Wang and Gale
(2009) formula, on cored wells (a) wells A
and (b) B.

Interpretation / August 2016 T379


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Figure 10. Crossplot between core-computed BI and neural-
network-estimated BI. (a) Well A, which was used to train the
neural network, and (b) another cored well B.
Figure 11. The PNN workflow used to predict the TOC volume from seismic
attributes. A similar workflow was created for BI estimation with a few changes
in input volumes.
T380 Interpretation / August 2016
Volumetric brittleness estimation
Perez (2013) use lambda-rho and mu-rho to estimate
BI. Rickman et al. (2008) propose a BI formula based on
Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio. This motivated us
to include Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, lambda-
rho, and mu-rho volume as input volumes, in addition
to all the input attributes used in TOC estimation. With
multilinear regression analysis, we found the best cor-
relation and least validation error with a window of

12 ms and five attributes provided in Table 4 for BI
estimation. Neural network training is then performed
with the best attributes indicated by multilinear regres-
sion. The training correlation was 67%, and the average
error was 0.054 (Figure 13a). The average correlation in
the blind test wells x, y, and z was 50% (Figure 13b).
Correlation of TOC and BI to relative EUR
Hydrocarbon production in the Barnett Shale is a
function of geology and completion design. The com-
pletion techniques used in this survey evolved with
time; however, most of the wells were less than 1 mi
long and completed with two to four stages. In this
work, we assume that production varies linearly with
the number of stages and the length of the well. With
this simplification, we then correlate the first 90 days
of production to the volumetric estimate of TOC and
BI. Barnett production has been empirically related
to length of the well, number of stages, brittleness of
the rock, TOC of the rock, layering of the rock in brit-
tle/ductile couplets (Slatt and Abousleiman, 2011), and
natural fractures or zones of weakness (Thompson,
2010). A higher TOC in thermally mature rocks gener-
ally indicates higher hydrocarbon storage and therefore
should correlate positively with production. Thompson
(2010) find a correlation between the curvature and mi-
croseismic events; most of the microseis-
mic events occur in the areas of negative
curvature or bowl-shaped features (Fig-
ure 14). In this survey, the ridges are frac-
tured but cemented, forming fracture
barriers.
Production data are scaled with val-
ues from 0 to 10 with 10 referring to
the highest 90-day production and 0 indi-
cating no production. We use the trajec-
tory of the horizontal wells and assume
that the well is perforated entirely along
the lateral. Microseismic data confirm
that production comes only from the tar-
geted LBS with fracture barriers pro-
vided by the Forestburg lime and Viola
lime at the base (Perez, 2013).
Underlying physics suggests that
fluid flow from a voxel of high TOC to
the well-perforation location decays as
1∕R2 , where R is the Euclidean distance
from any point in the reservoir to the
well. Similarly, hydraulic pressure P
from a perforation location to a voxel
 of brittle rock decays as 1∕R2 . Pressure defines the de-
viatoric stresses σ 1 − P and σ 3 − P. For this reason, we
integrate the Green function’s response at each element
along the well to each voxel weighting attributes TOC
and BI by 1∕R2 .
To correlate the production data of horizontal wells
with BI and TOC, we used an internal program, we
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to compute the BI and TOC. For this analysis, we used
120 horizontal wells, which were completely inside the
survey area (Figures 16 and 17).
Limitations of TOC and BI correlation with
production using cigar probe
Rocks fracture nonlinearly when the deviatoric

called it “cigar probe” (Figure 15). In cigar probe, an stress exceeds that defined by Mohr’s circle and natural
average value of the attribute is computed around the fractures in brittle rock occur only after a given thresh-
wellbore path; a sphere of influence with radius R is old (Staples, 2011). For this reason, simple weighted
constructed at each point of on the wellbore and then averages may not be appropriate, but rather some
these spheres are integrated, which ultimately gives a weighted average of that volume of rock that exceeds
1∕R2 weighted average property. The output of the ci- a critical brittleness or a specific percentile of a given
gar probe is one value per well with an assumption that rock property (weighted medians and weighted percen-
the each point on the wellbore path in the horizontal tiles) might be considered.
section is contributing equally. This is similar to the
availability of relative estimated ultimate recovery Results
(EUR) values. We choose a radius of 1000 ft influence The TOC computed using the well logs with Passey’s
equation on well A has a 60% correlation; using the
same baselines and LOM values, the well B has a lower
Table 3. Validation and training error using a window
of
8 ms for volumetric TOC estimation.
Table 4. Validation and training error using a window
of
12 ms for volumetric BI estimation.
Attribute Training Validation Correlation
error error
Training Validation
Lambda-Rho 0.89 0.91 50 Attribute error error Correlation
Stratigraphic height 0.64 0.66 77
Lambda-Rho 0.064 0.066 44
Relative acoustic 0.60 0.62 80
imp. Stratigraphic height 0.062 0.065 49
S-impedance 0.58 0.61 84 Mu-Rho 0.061 0.065 51
P-impedance 0.58 0.61 84 Relative acoustic imp. 0.060 0.064 55
Mu-Rho 0.62 0.61 85 Young’s modulus 0.059 0.065 56
Spectral_mag_50 Hz 0.62 0.61 84 SMF_20 0.059 0.066 57

Figure 12. (a) Crossplot between predicted

TOC using a neural network and TOC well
log with 30 wells used in neural network train-
ing. (b) Vertical slice along the line XX′ through
estimated TOC volume (location shown in Fig-
ure 12c). Notice the estimated TOC volume
shows a good match at the blind wells x, y,
and z (70% correlation). (c) Map of the top of
LBS surface. For neural network analysis, the
circled wells were kept as blind wells and non-
circled wells were used as the training wells.

Interpretation / August 2016 T381

 correlation (55%). Nonlinear regression
increases the training correlation to 80%
and validation correlation to 73%. The
use of Passey’s derived TOC and nor-
malized stratigraphic height provides
significant improvement in the corre-
lation.
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We use Wang and Gale’s (2009) for-

mula to estimate BI. Similar to TOC from
core to well log, we use nonlinear re-
gression to estimate BI logs on the wells.
BI computed with mineralogy and esti-
mated BI with the multilinear regression
had a correlation of 66%, and with neu-
ral network estimated BI with 68% of
training correlation. The blind well cor-
relation on well B was 63% for the neural
network.
The multilinear regression analysis
suggests that lambda-rho has the highest
contribution in the regression relation
for TOC volume estimation. Use of neu-
ral network increases the correlation to
87% from 84%. We also compared the re-
sults on the wells, which were not a part
Figure 13. (a) Crossplot between predicted BI using a neural network and BI of regression analysis and observed a
well log with 30 wells used in neural network training. (b) Vertical slice along line blind well correlation of 70%.
XX′ through estimated BI volume (location shown in Figure 12c). Notice that the
estimated BI volume shows a fair match at the blind wells x, y, and z (50% cor- Neural network analysis for the BI
relation). has 67% correlation and validation cor-

Figure 14. Map view of microseismic event locations corresponding to (a) wells C and (b) D — the orientation of the fracture
lineaments formed by the microseismic events aligns with the current maximum horizontal stress direction in the FWB (northeast–
southwest). (c) Horizon slice along the top Viola Limestone through the most positive curvature (k1 ). Most of the microseismic
events fall into the areas with negative curvature values (bowl shapes). Red vectors indicate velocity anisotropy in which the length
of the vector is proportional to the degree of anisotropy whereas the direction indicates the azimuth of maximum anisotropy. The
seismic data were acquired after 400 wells stimulated, such that the velocity anisotropy represents the postfrack stress regime.
(Modified from Perez [2013] and Thompson [2010]). The maximum distance of a posted microseismic event from a well is 1000 ft,
which will be used for as Rmax .

T382 Interpretation / August 2016

 relation 43%, which is lower than the
TOC correlation. This could be because
the seismic impedances and well log
properties are only indirectly related to
mineralogy. The estimated BI volume
shows a good correlation with the train-
ing wells and a decreased, but acceptable
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correlation to the blind wells (Figure 13).

Crossplots between the TOC and pro-
duction as well as BI and production
shows poor correlation (Figure 16). We
used weighted 1∕R2 mean to compute
averaged properties. Prediction of pro-
duction (relative EUR) with TOC and
BI using neural network training shows
Figure 15. Illustration of the cigar probe workflow — horizontal well is drilled a correlation of 38% correlation on val-
in the LBS. The flow (production) to each perforation can be approximated by idation wells (Figure 17). This correla-
the impulse response of Green’s function 1∕R2 . We assume all the sections are tion can be improved by use of other
perforated, and each point on the well is producing equally. Integration of all the attributes (such as curvature) known to
points to along the wellbore path to get the weighted average property can be influence completion design.
correlated with the production.
Conclusions
For the Barnett Shale of the FWB in
the study area, nonlinear regression pre-
diction of TOC provides a better estimate
of TOC compared to the estimate ob-
tained using Passey’s method on the well
log. The BI estimated on the well logs
with nonlinear regression has a good cor-
relation with the core-computed BI. Core-
measured TOC observed the highest
correlation with Passey’s TOC as a single
well log, indicating that Passey’s method
can be used when there is no core avail-
able in the study area given a reasonable
value of level of maturity and baseline. In-
clusion of normalized stratigraphic height
in the nonlinear regression increases the
TOC correlation significantly.
Figure 16. Crossplot between, relative EUR, and (a) TOC, and (b) BI. There is Wang and Gale’s brittleness equation
almost no correlation between production and TOC or BI. indicates an inverse relationship between
BI and TOC, which also matches our ob-
servation in the deeper part of the LBS.
Because the TOC percentage is very
small compared to total rock volume, it
does not make a significant change in BI.
In general, TOC occurs with clay miner-
als. The change in clay % can be a consid-
erably large number, and it can cause
a significant decrease in BI. Estimated
TOC and brittleness shows a good corre-
lation with the blind well. Estimated BI
and TOC volumes can be used to find
the brittle ductile couplets as a sweet
spot for drilling.
Figure 17. Neural network training with relative EUR as target property and
TOC and BI as input. Training was done on 100 wells. (a) Crossplot between
actual relative EUR and predicted EUR on training wells. (b) Plot of actual ver- Acknowledgments
sus predicted EUR for training wells and validations wells. Notice the training We would like to thank Devon Energy
correlation is 54% and the validation correlation is 38%. for providing seismic and well log data.

Interpretation / August 2016 T383

 We thank CGG GeoSoftware for Hampson-Russell and
Schlumberger for Petrel software licenses provided to
the University of Oklahoma for research and education.
Finally, we would like to thank the sponsors of the
Attribute-Assisted Seismic Processing and Interpretation
Consortium for their guidance and financial support.
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Sumit Verma received an M.S. (2007)
in applied geophysics from the Indian
School of Mines, Dhanbad, and a
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Ph.D. (2015) in geophysics from the
University of Oklahoma under the
supervision of Kurt Marfurt. He is a
postdoctoral research fellow at the
University of Wyoming. His research
interests include seismic interpreta-
tion, quantitative interpretation, seismic data conditioning,
and shale gas reservoir characterization. He worked with
Reliance Industries Ltd. E&P for four years as a develop-
ment geoscientist.
Tao Zhao received a B.S. (2011) in
exploration geophysics from China
University of Petroleum and an M.S.
(2013) in geophysics from the Univer-
sity of Tulsa. He is currently pursuing
a Ph.D. in geophysics from the Univer-
sity of Oklahoma as a member of the
Attribute Assisted Seismic Processing
and Interpretation (AASPI) consor-
tium. His current research interests include developing
and applying pattern recognition and machine learning
techniques on seismic data, unconventional shale resource
play characterization, and seismic attributes development.
Kurt. J. Marfurt began his geophysi-
cal career teaching geophysics and
contributing to an industry-supported
consortium on migration, inversion,
and scattering (project MIDAS) at
Columbia University’s Henry Krumb
School of Mines in New York City.
In 1981, he joined Amoco’s Tulsa
Research Center and spent the next
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18 years doing or leading research efforts in modeling, mi-
gration, signal analysis, basin analysis, seismic attribute
analysis, reflection tomography, seismic inversion, and
multicomponent data analysis. In 1999, he joined the
University of Houston as a professor in the Department
of Geosciences and as director of the Allied Geophysics
Laboratories. He is currently a member of the Geophysical
Societies of Tulsa and Houston, SEG, EAGE, AAPG, AGU,
and SIAM; and he serves as editor for Interpretation. His
current research activity includes prestack imaging, veloc-
ity analysis and inversion of converted waves, computer-
assisted pattern recognition of geologic features on 3D
seismic data, and interpreter-driven seismic processing.
His research interests include seismic signal analysis, 3D
seismic attributes, seismic velocity analysis, subsurface
imaging, and multicomponent data analysis.
Deepak Devegowda received M.S.
and Ph.D. degrees in petroleum engi-
neering from Texas A&M University.
He is an associate professor in the
Mewbourne School of Petroleum
and Geological Engineering at the
University of Oklahoma. His research
interests include the understanding,
modeling, and management of uncon-
ventional oil and gas reservoirs, high-resolution reservoir
description, and geostatistical reservoir characterization.
His research is also geared towards enhanced recovery
processes, groundwater systems, and contaminant trans-
port.
Interpretation / August 2016 T385