Identifying
Pore Structure and Clay Content from
Seismic
Data within an Argillaceous
Sandstone Reservoir
Robert Schelstrate
Texas A&M University, Department of Geology & Geophysics,
College Station, Texas, United States of America
[email protected]
Sandstone facies are ideal reservoirs for the accumulation of hydrocarbons in conventional
exploration due to high porosity and permeability. Interbedded sandstone and shale, however,
often occur in a depositional
sequence. The amount of shale becomes a limiting factor in the
quality of the reservoir by creating baffles to fluid flow. Previous studies have developed rock
physics models of
identifying
critical clay content from experimental and well log data in a shaly
sandstone reservoir. This study is to correlate a rock physics-based petrophysical parameter with
seismic
attributes in order to map and predict the location of fluid baffles. The project will
involve calculating the critical clay content within the target reservoir, by applying the model
proposed by Adesokan (2012) to wells logs within the Norne field, offshore Norway. Once the
petrophysical analysis is completed, a deterministic
seismic
inversion will be conducted, using
the well log data to build an inverse model of reservoir interval to identify how clay content
varies within the reservoir.
Seismic
inversion will generate a most likely case reservoir model,
predicting zones of increased clay content within the argillaceous sandstone reservoir. Utilizing
the results of the
seismic
inversion, a volumetric assessment will be conducted to estimate
original oil in place, which will then be compared to production data to gauge the accuracy of the
method.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90183©2013 AAPG Foundation 2013 Grants-in-Aid Projects