Introduction To Seismic Interpretation El Amal 1

Shell Exploration & Production
Copyright: Shell Exploration & Production Ltd.
Introduction to Seismic Interpretation
By:
Hosny Diab
Explorationist Seismic Interpreter / Onshore
Exploration Team
Shell Egypt N. V.
How oil trapped & Technology used video
Seismic Acquisition operations

Seismic acquisition offshore
Seismic acquisition onshore
Ambient and
Cultural Noise
Recording Instruments
Ground Receiver Coupling

Receiver Frequency Response
Array Effects
Shot
Hole
Upcoming
Wavelet
Free
Surface
Ghost?
Low
Velocity
Layer
Refractions
Source Effects
Downgoing
Wavelet
Spherical
Spreading
Refractions
Short Period
Multiples
Interface Losses
Q-Factor
Reflection
Coefficient
Long Period
Multiples
Scatterers
3D seismic Video
What can be seen on seismic data?

Zoeppritz equations simplify to:
RC: Acoustic impedance contrast between 2

different materials
Z2 - Z1
RC = Z + Z for (near) vertical incidence
1
2
Acoustic Impedance Z:
Z=V
where: is density
V is velocity
Convolutional Model for Synthetic Seismic

Rock Acoustic
Reflectivity
Source
Trace Reflector Synthetic
column
Impedance
wavelet responsesseismogram
from sonic & density logs
Minimum phase
3D seismic cube configuration Video
Seismic section display

Variable Density
Different Seismic Displays

& Color Schemes
Variable Wiggle
Seismic-to-Well Tie
Process of correlating the
seismic signal close to a
wellbore to well
information (synthetic
seismogram, lithology log,
deep-reading resistivity log,
tops)
To identify seismic
reflections for horizon
interpretation; in calibration
for quantitative
interpretation
Match relative
amplitudes between
seismic signal and
synthetic.
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synthetic
deep-reading resistivity
Seismic terms
Wavelet: a seismic pulse usually consisting of only a few cycles which

represents the reflection shape from a single positive reflector at
normal incidence
Event: general feature in seismic data
Explicit events are features depicted by amplitude extrema (trough peak)
Implicit events are features depicted by terminations of explicit events
(faults, unconformities)
Trace: a vertical record of seismic amplitudes at a given shot point or 3D

grid coordinate (time or depth),
Fault shadow: zone of reduced imaging quality in the footwall (below)
major faults with a distinct velocity contrast to the hanging wall (above),
can also be caused by wider fault damage zones with anomalous velocity
Effect is usually aggravated by strike acquisition
Seismic terms (Cont.)
Grid: a 2-dimensional array to store horizon, attribute and fault data with a
regular x/y sampling
Horizon Slice: a horizontal display of seismic amplitude data, extracted at a
constant distance from a seismic horizon, powerful for viewing stratigraphic
information (Coherence data)
Attribute: a measurement executed on seismic data, with varying base
geometries
Trace attribute: along a trace, e.g. Phase
Horizon attribute: along a horizon, e.g. Amplitude
Window attribute: between horizons or within a fixed gate, e.g. RMS energy
Volume attribute: multi-trace (change) measurement, e.g. Coherency;
represents lateral amplitude change, e.g. At reflection terminations;
commonly used for highlighting of faults and abrupt stratigraphic
variations in timeslices and horizon slices.
Structural (Slip) Vector / Volume dip & azimuth:

A volume attribute that represents lateral change of phase, e.g. As caused by tectonic
deformation of subsurface strata; commonly used for highlighting of faults and flexures in
timeslices and horizon slices.
Inversion: a method of restoring broad-band acoustic impedance

signal of the subsurface from the ordinary band-limited reflectivity
signal of seismic data. Techniques used:
Sparse-spike Inversion: deconvolution / whitening plus adding low frequencies
from well data
Model-based Inversion: both low and high frequencies are added from
interpreted borehole measurements, extrapolating away from boreholes along
horizons
Isochron: TWT isoline, either from seismic datum to a horizon or as isochrone thickness,
measured between 2 horizons, with wave travelling vertically assumption
Flattening: datuming of vertical and horizontal seismic displays

parallel to a seismic horizon .
A flattened timslice is also called horizon slice.
Useful for interpretation of stratigraphic geometries
Mis-tie: inconsistency between 2 interpretation of the same

features on different seismic displays, e.g. Crossing 2D lines or
inlines-crossline displays of 3D seismic. Also in seismic-to-well tie.
Jump correlation: identification of a seismic event on either side of
a fault for regional horizon interpretation.
Guidelines for 3D seismic

interpretation
Faults interpretation
Guidelines for the Interpretation of Faults
Interpret all visible faults - in order to maximise the understanding

of deformational history and the controls on trapping and flow
The definition of appropriate selection criteria for faults to be
interpreted as 3D planes is essential to be used
along the entire Subsurface Interpretation workflow (structural and
reservoir model building, upscaling, reservoir simulation).
Sequencing faults for interpretation should consider structural

setting and kinematics.
As a minimum, all faults that directly affect volumetrics must be
fully interpreted, i.e. those faults that are (potentially) sealing and
occur in (potential) trap geometries. Generally these faults are also
the ones that are to be included in the static reservoir model.
Common orientations and shapes of faults

Most hydrocarbon accumulations occur in
Structural traps involving extensional to moderately transpressional
deformation,
Their faults tend to be rather steep (ranging from about 60 with normal
displacement for extensional faults through nearly vertical strike-slip faults to
reverse faults of about 60 dip in mildly transpressional regimes).
Fault shape is controlled by the magnitude of differential stress between

the horizontal stress axes,
Bends and kinks can occur if the stress field is laterally variable
All faults are either straight or at least have constant curvature in the
direction of their displacement,
At larger faults, this rule may appear to be broken if the fault position is offset
at incompetent intervals with plastic rather than brittle deformation.
Choosing the most suitable digitisation direction

Fortunately many 3D surveys are oriented such that the
seismic grid is aligned with the predominant dip direction
(azimuth) in the subsurface, and are thereby also aligned
with most faults,
it will be sufficient to generate two sets of arbitrary lines, each
at 45 with the seismic grid
It is important that the corner coordinates of used

arbitrary lines are stored, as otherwise the interpretation
on such lines cannot be revisited or corrected.
Interpretation strategy
The seismic evidence for faults is
implicit (reflection terminations), ambiguous (not all reflection

terminations are caused by faults)
incomplete (intervals without reflective interfaces also lack evidence for
faults).
may have many different geometries including (self-)branching,
Good interpretation practice means taking into account

kinematic considerations, The specific geophysical response and rock
competence of each interval when making choices with ambiguous evidence.
Generation of fault planes by linear interpolation or triangulation

between manually interpreted segments may be easier if the manual
seed interpretation is oriented in the direction of highest irregularity
of fault shape, i.e. normal to the slip vector.
Fault (discontinuity) highlighting volume in support

Structural Vector (lateral phase change)
of structural interpretation:
Coherence (lateral amplitude change)

(vertical displacement > 0.25 wave length)
Small scale faults
Where and how to pick
Pick preferably at the hanging-wall terminations (above the fault plane) as the
seismic image below the fault plane is often of poorer quality (fault shadow)
and does not provide a good contrast between continuous unfaulted reflections
and clear terminations towards a fault plane.
If fault plane reflections are present but do not coincide with the hanging-wall
termination, better ignore them because, as very steep features, they are much
more sensitive to inaccuracies in migration velocities.
Interpret fault segments consistently from upper to lower tip.
Split-the-distance method. In this workflow one would start interpretation with
a very large increment that can be divided by 2 for a number of times: ideally the
power-2 system 1-2-4-8-16-32-64, but the system 5-10-20-40-80 is often
easier to manage.
Fault junctions and amalgamated faults: shape complexity increases
towards the lateral tips of fault planes, where the local stress fields start
interfering. This implies that interpretation density should usually increase
towards fault tips.
Nigeria
Data raw
seismic
Nigeria Data
with Horizon
& Fault
Interpretati
on

interpretation
Horizon & unconformity
interpretation
Guidelines for 3D horizon interpretation
Horizon interpretation should be executed after initial fault

interpretation
The minimum set of horizons:
all unconformities and sequence boundaries
major lap surface and maximum flooding surfaces
Other levels may also be needed: time to depth conversion, structural
modelling & kitchen/maturity modelling
Start with shallow horizons on obvious events and to interpret step-by-step
from top to bottom, as structural complexity increases and imaging breaks
down.
Correlate a particular horizon on a coarse grid of lines away from wells, and
make sure you always close a loop back to your starting point to verify that
the horizon of interest is consistently picked.
Guidelines for 3D horizon interpretation
Ensure that there is no misties of horizons and faults

It is then safer not to interpret closer to a fault plane than 1-3 traces.
Jump correlations across faults:
Get an idea about the throw distribution along the interface between two
blocks by tentative horizon interpretation
Work top down, starting from levels with confident correlation across the
fault.
Base your choice on sequence correlation rather than event correlation
Take discrete sedimentary features such as unconformities, incised
valley fills and channels as anchor points for jump correlation
Unconformity: as significant breaks in vertical velocity trends.

Its interpretation depends on the recognition of characteristic reflection geometries
rather than on amplitude information

interpretation
Exercises

Introduction To Seismic Interpretation El Amal 1

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Shell Exploration & Production

Copyright: Shell Exploration & Production Ltd.