Juan Carlos Soldo

Curvature attributes and seismic interpretation: Case studies from Argentina basins

The concept of surface curvature dates from work by Gauss in the 1820s but practical applications have only been possible with the advent of powerful workstations in recent years.

Seismic reservoir description using hybrid seismic inversion: A 3D case study from the María Inés Oeste Field, Argentina

Maria Ines Oeste, an oil and gas field in Argentinas Magallanes Foreland Basin (also called Austral Basin) produces from Maria Inees sandstones that are known to represent the base of a second order transgressive system tract (TST), deposited during Late Maastrichtian times in a coastal to open shelf environment. Figure 1 outlines the basic tectonic framework of the Austral Basin.

Petro-Acoustic Properties Estimation Using Seismic Simultaneous Inversion: Are we there yet?

When using seismic inversion algorithms for reservoir characterization one main question sometimes remains among the people involved in a specific project: What are we trying to “see”? What is the actual variation of the properties (hard data)? What is the level of noise the seismic data has? If the level of noise is high, are we ever going to estimate what we expected to? This paper tries to tackle just a few points of all the interrogatives issues that geoscientist may came up with when dealing with inversion.

3D AVO And Seismic Inversion In María Inés Oeste Field, Santa Cruz, Argentina, a Case Study

The successful exploration for new reservoirs in mature areas, as well as the optimal development of existing fields, requires the integration of unconventional geological and geophysical techniques. In particular, the calibration of 3D seismic data to well log information is crucial to obtain a quantitative understanding of reservoir properties. The advent of new technology for prestack seismic data analysis and 3D visualization has resulted in improved fluid and lithology predictions prior to expensive drilling. Increased reservoir resolution has been achieved by combining seismic inversion with AVO analysis to minimize exploration risk. In this paper we present an integrated and systematic approach to prospect evaluation in the Maria Ines Oeste field. We will show how petrophysical analysis of well log data can be used as a feasibility tool to determine the fluid and lithology discrimination capabilities of AVO and inversion techniques. Then, a description of effective AVO and prestack inversion tools for reservoir property quantification will be discussed. Finally, the incorporation of the geological interpretation and the use of 3D visualization will be presented as a key integration tool for the discovery of new plays. Geological framework The Maria Ines sandstones represent the base of a Second Order Transgressive System Tract (TST), deposited in a coastal to open shelf environment. These sands represent a transgressive clastic depositional system in the Austral Foreland Basin. The discontinuity over which these sandstones were deposited represents one of the orogenic pulses of the Andean Orogeny. In a few wells located to the west and northwest of the area of study it is possible to define a lower sand body, which represents the Lowstand System Tract (LST), limited by incised valleys. To the east of the study area, the sandstones onlap the regional forebulge represented by an antiform with a north-south axis that plunges to the south. The Maastrichtian – Paleocene sandstones are seismically well defined, due to their thickness (50 meter average) and hydrocarbon content. In the study area the traps are mainly structural, associated with an east-west normal fault system. As they are charged to the spillpoint, the faults themselves determine the amount of the hydrocarbon trapped. Seismically, the response to this combination is in the form of bright spots, limited at their northern edge by faults. Petrophysical Analysis The development of the Maria Ines field was essentially based on the detection of these bright spots and their structural evaluation using 3D seismic data. After drilling almost ten wells, a further investigation of these amplitude anomalies became necessary. A petrophysical analysis was carried out to evaluate the various relationships between lithology and fluid type via trend analysis and cross-plotting techniques. This firststage determined which petrophysical attribute, or combination of attributes, shows characteristics that can be used as an identifier of a specific lithology and pore fluid. This understanding provides a preliminary assessment on which AVO attribute products can be diagnostic. Prior to AVO modeling, all wells were processed using standard log editing and interpretation techniques. Two of the wells used in this study had measured shear velocities. For those wells without shear velocities, a local estimator was developed and applied; care was taken to ensure that shear velocities across pay were properly calculated. Gassman’s equation was used to replace the insitu fluid in each well with three different fluids. Thus, brine, gas and two oil cases were generated for each well evaluated. Figure 1 shows the interval of interest from one of the wells. Figure 1.Log display of one of the gas wells from the study area. Note the sharp contrast in acoustic impedance between the overlying shale and the sand. VSH V/V 0 1