Seismic Reflections of Rock Properties

About this book

Seismic Reflections of Rock Properties provides an accessible guide to using the rock physics-based forward modeling approach for mapping the subsurface, systematically linking rock properties to seismic amplitude. Providing practical workflows, Seismic Reflections of Rock Properties shows how to methodically vary lithology, porosity, rock type, and pore fluids and reservoir geometry, calculate the corresponding elastic properties, and then generate synthetic seismic traces. These synthetic traces can then be compared to actual seismic traces from the field: a similar actual seismic response implies similar rock properties in the subsurface. Seismic Reflections of Rock Properties catalogs various cases, including clastic sediments, carbonates, time-lapse seismic monitoring, and discusses the effect of attenuation on seismic reflections. It shows how to build earth models (pseudo-wells) using deterministic and statistical approaches, and includes case studies based on real well data. A vital guide for researchers and petroleum geologists, in industry and academia, providing sample catalogs of synthetic seismic reflections from a variety of realistic reservoir models.

Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements

Part I. The Basics
1. Forward modeling of seismic reflections for rock characterization
2. Rock physics models and transforms
3. Rock physics diagnostics

Part II. Synthetic Seismic Amplitude
4. Modeling at an interface: quick-look approach
5. Pseudo-wells: principles and examples
6. Pseudo-wells: statistics-based generation

Part III. From Well Data and Geology to Earth Models and Reflections
7. Clastic sequences: diagnostics and Vs prediction
8. Log shapes at the well scale and seismic reflections in clastic sequences
9. Synthetic modeling in carbonates
10. Time lapse (4D) reservoir monitoring

Part IV. Frontier Exploration
11. Rock physics workflow in oil and gas exploration
12. DHI validation and prospect risking

Part V. Advanced Rock Physics: Diagenetic Trends, Self-Similarity, Permeability, Poisson's Ratio in Gas Sand, Seismic Wave Attenuation, Gas Hydrates
13. Rock physics case studies
14. Poisson's ratio and seismic reflections
15. Seismic wave attenuation
16. Gas hydrates

Part VI. Rock Physics Operations Directly Applied to Seismic Amplitude and Impedance
17. Fluid substitution on seismic amplitude
18. Rock physics and seismically derived impedance
19. Computational rock physics

Appendix A. Direct hydrocarbon indicator checklist

References
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Jack Dvorkin is a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Geophysics at Stanford University. His primary research interests are theoretical rock physics and its practical applications as well as computational rock physics, and he has taught dozens of industrial rock physics short-courses worldwide (USA, Canada, Colombia, Brazil, India, China, Japan, Norway, Germany, Italy). Dr Dvorkin has published around 150 professional papers and has also co-authored two books including The Rock Physics Handbook.

Mario A. Gutierrez is Manager for Rock and Fluid Physics at BHP Billiton Petroleum, working primarily on the application of seismic- and rock physics-based methods to evaluating and risking the presence of reservoir rocks and hydrocarbons, to support business decisions and recommendations on exploration oil and gas projects worldwide. Dr Gutierrez holds a PhD in Geophysics from Stanford University, and previously, he held applied research and operational roles at Shell, Ecopetrol, and various seismic contractors, working on rock physics modeling and seismic attributes, reservoir characterization, shallow hazards, and pore pressure prediction.

Dario Grana is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wyoming. He worked for four years on seismic reservoir characterization at Eni Exploration and Production in Milan, then moved to Stanford University where he received his PhD in geophysics in 2013 – during which time he also published 6 peer-reviewed journal papers and presented at several international conferences. Dr Grana's main research interests are rock physics, seismic reservoir characterization, geostatistics and inverse problems for reservoir modeling.