Print this pageUsing 
Reservoir
Simulation to Validate and Constrain 4-D
Seismic
MELLO, U. T., WEI HE, and ROGER N. ANDERSON
In this study we show how reservoir simulation can be used to generate
independent 4-D impedance maps that can be used to validate and/or constrain 4-D
impedance maps obtained from seismic datasets. By using physical properties from
water and hydrocarbon fluids and reservoir characterization before production,
we build a pre-production impedance map that serves as a reference for
independent 4-D impedance analyses based on seismic and reservoir fluid flow.
Fluid flow-based impedance maps are calculated using fluid saturations derived
from reservoir simulation that are compared to impedance maps obtained by
inverting seismic amplitudes. We have applied this approach to the LF Reservoir
in Eugene Island area (block 330) using 3-D seismic datasets from 1985
(pre-production) and from 1992 (in-production) provided by Pennzoil and Shell,
respectively. The reservoir
simulation was performed using a parallel version of
ECLIPSE on SP2. Inverted impedance and 4-D seismic were calculated using
Lamont's 4-D software. Preliminary results show that this technique is valuable
to constrain fluid flow inferences obtained from 4D seismic. This is especially
true in cases of studies that use legacy seismic datasets, where different
orientation, processing and quality can potentially introduce significant noise
in the 4-D seismic processing.