William Ashcroft A Petroleum Geologist’s Geologist’s A Petroleum &REE$6$ 2/- &REE#$ 2/- Guide to Seismic Refl ection Refl to Seismic Guide

A Petroleum Geologist’s Guide to Seismic Refl ection Ashcroft ection , p. 301-27. Cover images from: Taner, M. T. and Sheriff, R. E. 1977, Application of amplitude, frequency Application of amplitude, frequency R. E. 1977, and Sheriff, T. M. Taner, Cover images from: and other attributes to stratigraphic and hydrocarbon determination. In Peyton, C. E. (ed), AAPG Memoir 26. Seismic stratigraphy – applications to hydrocarbon exploration American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Tulsa. (Figs. 8 and 11). AAPG©1977 (Figs. 8 and 11). Tulsa. Association of Petroleum Geologists, American AAPG whose permission is required for further use. reprinted by permission of the Cover design: Simon Levy This book is written for advanced earth science students, geologists, petroleum students, geologists, petroleum for advanced earth science This book is written of ‘up to speed’ on the interpretation others who want to get quickly engineers and to students on the MSc a development of material given ection seismic data. It is refl of a course University and takes the form Aberdeen Geology at course in Petroleum course can be used as a self-contained than a systematic textbook. It manual rather or as the basis for a class programme. for individual study, cult, nd diffi tend to fi of the subject that students es those aspects The book clarifi deepen which aim to reinforce and through practical tutorials and provides insights provide the reader with a measure of feedback on understanding of key topics and only involve drawing simple diagrams, but many are progress. Some tutorials may graphics output to give insight into key steps in computer-aided (PC based) with the seismic response of some common geological seismic data processing or into basic ideas and it ends with two tutorials in scenarios. Part I of the book covers II concentrates on the current seismic refl 2-D structural interpretation. Part based on 3-D data. contribution to reservoir studies, Seismograph Service Ltd Ashcroft worked with Dr After gaining his geology degree, East and Nigeria, then went on to do research at on seismic parties in the Middle Aberdeen University of He joined the Department of Geology, Birmingham University. and to the MSc class in Applied Geophysics to BSc students in 1966, teaching magnetic surveys in His research interests included large-scale Petroleum Geology. based on seismic data released from the petroleum the Scottish highlands and studies active, teaching He retired as Senior Lecturer in 1999, but has remained industry. Glasgow and carrying out magnetic surveys over the geophysics at the University of tutorial software. Rhynie Basin as well as writing this book and developing its

A Petroleum Geologist’s Guide to Seismic Reflection Companion CD-ROM

The computer-aided tutorials in the book are written for the PC and should run in any version of Microsoft Windows from Windows 95 to Windows 7. Most of the programs read and write files to disk, so the simplest way to use them is to copy all files off the CD to a folder on disk. To run a program simply list the files in that folder in Windows Explorer and double click on the appropriate .exe file or right click on the .exe file to create a shortcut. The workings of each program are explained under the menu heading Help/Quickstart or Help/Manual. Double click on STARTUP.EXE for further information. One tutorial requires the use of a spreadsheet in Windows Excel. A Petroleum Geologist’s Guide to Seismic Reflection

William Ashcroft This edition first published 2011, Ó 2011 by William Ashcroft Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing program has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientific, Technical and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell. Registered office: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK Editorial offices: 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, USA For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright materialin this book please see our website at www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell The right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Ashcroft, W. A. (William A.) A petroleum geologist’s guide to seismic reflection / William Ashcroft. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-1-4443-3262-9 (cloth) – ISBN 978-1-4443-3263-6 (pbk.) 1. Seismic reflection method. 2. Petroleum–Prospecting. I. Title. II. Title: Guide to seismic reflection. TN269.84.A84 2011 622’.1828–dc22 2010048040

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This book is published in the following electronic formats: ePDF [ISBN: 9781444397857]; ePub [ISBN: 9781444397864] Set in 9/11.5pt Minion by Thomson Digital, Noida, India

1 2011 Contents

Preface xi Acknowledgements xiii

Part I Basic topics and 2D interpretation

1 Introduction and overview 3 1.1 Exploration geophysics in petroleum exploration 3 1.2 The principle of seismic reflection surveying 3 1.3 Overview of the seismic reflection industry 4 1.4 A brief history of seismic surveying 5 1.5 Societies, books and journals 5 2 Geophysical signal description 6 2.1 Overview 6 2.2 Cosine waves 6 2.3 Signals and spectra 8 2.4 Periodic waveforms: Fourier series 8 2.5 Seismic wavelets 9 2.6 Wavelet characteristics: time and frequency domains 10 2.7 Digitization of signals 12 2.8 Fourier description of space-dependent quantities 13 Tutorials: 13 Tutorial 2.1 Consolidating ideas of frequency and phase shift 13 Tutorial 2.2 Fourier summation of a periodic waveform 14 Tutorial 2.3 The transition from periodic waveform to wavelet: program FOURSYN 15 Tutorial 2.4 Amplitude and phase-shift changes in the wavelet: program FOURSYN 15 3 Data acquisition 17 3.1 General points 17 3.2 Seismic sources and receivers 17 3.3 Static corrections 18 3.4 Recording and presentation of data 18 3.5 Common mid-point (CMP) shooting 19 3.6 The attack on noise 20 3.7 3D surveys 22 4 Seismic wave propagation 24 4.1 Introduction 24 4.2 P-wave 24 4.3 Controls on P-wave velocity 24 vi Contents

4.4 P-wave waveforms 26 4.5 Shear waves and surface waves 26 4.6 P-wave attenuation 27 4.6.1 Spherical spreading 27 4.6.2 Frequency-dependent attenuation 27 4.7 P-wave transmission paths 27 4.7.1 Wavefronts and raypaths for a single interface 28 4.7.2 Reflection coefficient and wavelet polarity 29 4.7.3 Ray-tracing in seismic modelling 29 Tutorials: 30 Tutorial 4.1 P- and S-wave particle motion on screen: program PSWAVE 30 Tutorial 4.2 Basic measurements of time, velocity and depth 30 Tutorial 4.3 Drawing the reflection wavefront from Huygens’s Principle 30 Tutorial 4.4 Calculating typical reflection coefficients from well data 31 5 The process of reflection 33 5.1 Introduction 33 5.2 Fresnel zones 33 5.3 Fresnel zones and the seismic reflection 33 5.4 Faults and diffractions 34 5.5 Hyperbolae on stacked time sections 35 5.6 The reflection as a summation of hyperbolae 36 5.7 Resolution of the seismic reflection method 36 5.8 Multiple reflections: common modes 37 5.9 Multiples: the scale of the problem 38 Tutorials: 39 Tutorial 5.1 Seismic expression of a ‘point’ reflector 39 Tutorial 5.2 Water-layer multiples spoil a deep reservoir interval: program CMPGATHER 39 6 Velocity analysis, CMP stacking and post-stack migration 41 6.1 General points 41 6.2 Definitions of seismic velocity: well data 41 V 6.3 Velocities from seismic data: rms 42

6.4 Velocities from seismic data: Vstack 42 6.5 Velocity analysis 44 6.6 Errors in seismic-derived velocities 44 6.7 Multiple suppression by CMP stacking 45 6.8 Stacking the whole section: a make-or-break process 45 6.9 Some stacking refinements 45 6.9.1 NMO stretch 45 6.9.2 Weighted stacking 46 6.10 Migration: the fundamental idea 46 6.10.1 Map migration 46 6.11 Full-waveform migration 47 6.11.1 Migration by Kirchhoff diffraction stack 47 6.11.2 Migration by wave equation 47 6.12 Migration example: 2D section 48 Tutorials: 49 Tutorial 6.1 Velocities from well data 49 Tutorial 6.2 NMO correction, CMP stacking and velocity analysis: program NMOSTAK 50 Tutorial 6.3 Picking stacking velocities from a velocity spectrum: programs VELSPEC and SEGY2D 51 Tutorial 6.4 Suppression of multiples by CMP stacking: program NMOSTAK 51 Tutorial 6.5 How multiples appear on a velocity spectrum: program VELSPEC 51 Tutorial 6.6 Migration by ray-tracing 52 Contents vii

7 Interpretation of two-dimensional (2D) surveys for structure 53 7.1 Introduction 53 7.2 Linking well geology to the seismic section 53 7.2.1 Sonic log or continuous velocity log (CVL) 53 7.2.2 Time-depth plot 53 7.2.3 Making the link: synthetic seismogram 54 7.3 Choosing reflections to pick 54 7.4 Picking reflections 55 7.5 Sideswipe 55 7.6 A sideswipe example: fault diffractions 56 7.7 Preparing structure maps in TWT 57 7.8 Time to depth conversion 58 7.8.1 Velocity as an analytical function of depth 59 7.8.2 Time-depth conversion strategies 59 7.9 Examples of time-depth conversion 59 7.9.1 Southern North Sea: Rotliegend sandstone target 59 7.9.2 Central North Sea: Paleocene sands target 60 7.9.3 West Sole field, southern North Sea 60 Tutorials: 60 Tutorial 7.1 Constructing a synthetic seismogram from well-log data: program SYNTH 60 Tutorial 7.2 Matching a synthetic seismogram to seismic data: program IMAGES 62 Tutorial 7.3 Picking reflections along a 2D section from the Moray Firth, northern North Sea basin 62 Tutorial 7.4 Time to depth conversion, West Sole Field, southern North Sea Basin 70

Part II Seismic input to reservoir characterization

8 Better images of the subsurface 81 8.1 Introduction 81 8.2 Reflection point dispersal, conflicting dips and DMO 81 8.3 Prestack time migration (PSTM) 82 8.3.1 Common-offset sections and the Cheops pyramid 82 8.3.2 PSTM and image gathers 83 8.3.3 The limitations of PSTM: lateral variations in velocity 85 8.4 Prestack depth migration (PSDM) 85 8.4.1 Velocity-depth model based on layers 87 8.4.2 Velocity-depth model based on tomography 87 8.5 Anisotropy: the ultimate refinement in velocity 89 8.6 Velocity-depth ambiguity 90 8.7 Future migration technique: Kirchhoff or wave extrapolation? 91 8.8 3D migration 91 8.9 3D seismic interpretation 93 8.10 Growth and impact of 3D seismic surveys 94 Tutorials: 95 Tutorial 8.1 Reflection point dispersal 95 Tutorial 8.2 Lateral mis-location from time migration 96 Tutorial 8.3 3D data: vertical section and time-slice 97 9 Modifying the seismic waveform 98 9.1 Introduction 98 9.2 Testing an electronic filter: the impulse response 98 9.3 Digital filters: convolution 98 9.4 Cross-correlation and auto-correlation 101 9.5 Frequency filtering by convolution 102 viii Contents

9.6 The seismogram as a convolution 103 9.7 Deconvolution 103 9.8 Designing deconvolution operators 104 9.9 Predictive deconvolution 105 9.10 Wavelet processing 105 9.11 Frequency-domain processing 105 9.12 Data processing and the fragility of bandwidth 106 Tutorials: 107 Tutorial 9.1 Digital filtering by hand 107 Tutorial 9.2 The power of the Vibroseis technique: program SIGPROC 107 Tutorial 9.3 Testing the seismic response of a geological model: program SYNTH 108 10 Refining reservoir architecture from seismic data 109 10.1 Introduction: the reservoir model 109 10.2 Refining reservoir environment: seismic stratigraphy and facies analysis 109 10.2.1 Sequences and system tracts 109 10.2.2 Picking seismic sequence boundaries 109 10.2.3 Seismic facies analysis 110 10.2.4 Sedimentary units as 3D volumes 110 10.2.5 Multi-attribute facies analysis 111 10.2.6 Analysis of seismic facies by trace shape 112 10.2.7 Seismic facies in carbonates 113 10.3 Refining reservoir structure: vertical seismic profiling (VSP) 113 10.3.1 VSP processing and applications 114 10.3.2 Walkaway VSP 115 10.4 Refining reservoir structure: seismic attributes 116 10.4.1 Horizon displays of dip magnitude and azimuth 116 10.4.2 Volumetric dip magnitude and azimuth 118 10.4.3 Coherence 118 10.4.4 Automatic fault extraction: ant-tracking 119 10.4.5 Curvature 120 10.4.6 Applications of curvature 121 10.4.7 Structure-oriented filtering 122 10.5 Seismic forward modelling 122 10.5.1 One-dimensional modelling: the synthetic seismogram 123 10.5.2 Mis-match between synthetic seismogram and section 124 10.5.3 Forward modelling in two and three dimensions 124 Tutorials: 126 Tutorial 10.1 Section limits in walkaway VSP 126 Tutorial 10.2 Forward modelling of fault shadow: program SYNTHSEC 126 11 Seismic input to mapping reservoir properties 127 11.1 Introduction 127 11.2 Reflection amplitude 127 11.3 Acoustic impedance (AI) inversion 128 11.3.1 AI inversion by recursion and trace integration 128 11.3.2 The good and the bad of AI inversion 129 11.3.3 Sparse-spike, model-based and coloured inversion 130 11.4 Amplitude variation with offset (AVO) 130 11.4.1 AVO and poisson’s ratio 132 11.4.2 AVO methodology 132 11.4.3 Angle stacks 133 11.5 AVO intercept and gradient 134 11.5.1 Intercept-gradient cross-plots 135 11.6 Fluid factor 136 11.7 AVO inversion to rock properties lr and mr 137 11.8 AVO inversion to P- and S-wave impedance 138 Contents ix

11.9 Elastic impedance: AVO made easy? 139 11.10 Best fluid indicator? 140 11.11 Instantaneous seismic attributes 140 11.12 Usage of seismic attributes 141 11.13 Predicting log properties from seismic attributes 142 11.14 4C and 4D surveys 143 Tutorials: 144 Tutorial 11.1 AVO for typical lithological interfaces 144 Tutorial answers 146 References 147

Index 153

Files for computer-aided tutorials in the text are provided in the companion CD at the front of the book.

Preface

This book is written for anyone who wants to get quickly ‘up to The book is written with an eye to those points that students of speed’ on some aspect of reflection seismology as it affects the the subject tend to find difficult, and it tries to provide insight seismic interpreter. It is a development of course notes on seismic through tutorial material of a practical nature. The tutorials aim to reflection interpretation which have been given to students on the reinforce and deepen understanding of key topics and to provide MSc course in Petroleum Geology at Aberdeen University over the reader with a measure of feedback on progress. Some tutorials many years, and thus it takes the form of a course manual rather may only involvedrawing simplediagrams, butmanyare computer- than a systematic textbook. It can be used as a self-contained aided tutorials with graphics output to give insight into key steps course for individual study or as the basis of a class programme. in seismic data processing, or into the seismic response of some The notes were originally provided to make the subject more common geological scenarios. Other tutorials involve interpreta- accessible to geology students, but this volume should also prove tion of seismic sections and associated well data. The reader is useful to others, such as petroleum engineers, who have to work in urged to complete the practical tutorials at the time they are an integrated exploration or development team side by side with encountered in the text. The main interpretation tutorials at the geophysicists and geologists. Much petroleum exploration and end of Chapter 7 can be done over a longer schedule. production is now driven by the seismic reflection survey tech- There are two separate applications of the seismic reflection nique, so that all team members need to know quite a lot about it. technique in the petroleum industry. The first is to determine Throughout this book, the way in which the subject matter is subsurface geological structure as exactly as possible, by calculat- treated depends on its importance to the seismic interpreter. For ing the depth to key geological horizons and so delineate closed, example, in discussing data acquisition in the field, only the barest possibly hydrocarbon-bearing structures and calculate their vol- descriptions of seismic source and receiver hardware are given; the ume. The second application is to use seismic characteristics such focus is on the geometry of survey layout and the maintenance of as signal amplitude or frequency to determine subsurface prop- signal quality. erties such as porosity, or the presence of hydrocarbons in a Geophysics uses the language of mathematics, which is like any reservoir rock, and to track variations in such properties away other language – if you don’t use it every day you soon forget it, so from well control. many people find the mathematics in geophysics a barrier to Part I of this book covers fundamental topics such as data learning. The first rule for reading a maths-based topic might be acquisition and the description of the seismic wavelet, together summarized as ‘don’t panic’! The second rule is to keep re-reading with structural interpretation from two-dimensional seismic sec- the bits you don’t understand, with pencil and paper handy. The tions. Part II deals with three-dimensional surveys and the seismic third rule is to read only twice over at any one time, then move on input to reservoir studies. to rest your conscious brain and give its unconscious part time to work around it. That often works best while doing a practical Dr. William Ashcroft, tutorial of some sort – maybe something as simple as plotting a Aboyne, graph. Let your fingers help the learning! Royal Deeside, Scotland

Acknowledgements

I am grateful for helpful comments on drafts of this work from The open policy of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists Alan McGregor, Peter McAllister-Hall, Henry Allen, Stephen towards the use of illustrative material from their publications has Spencer and Adrian Burrows. been a big help in preparing the work, and the ready contribution Professor Jonathan Redfern, University of Manchester, helped of similar material from the European Association of Geoscientists the author to maintain focus on seismic facies. Seismic data for and Engineers, the Geological Society, the American Association interpretation purposes was generously provided by WesternGeco of Petroleum Geologists and the Canadian Society of Exploration and BP. Geophysicists is gratefully acknowledged.