Correlation of Seismic Attributes and Mechanical Properties to Rate of Penetration in the Mississippi Lime, OK

Abstract

The Mississippi Lime is a heterogeneous formation with nearby wells resulting in significantly different oil and water production. Heterogeneity impacts cost of drilling with rate of penetration (ROP) being a function of bit size, weight on bit, drilling mud, and lithology. ROP can be statistically correlated to surface seismic attributes. Because the bit actually destroys the rock, we expect any correlation to be nonlinear. However, if even a soft correlation can be found, the economic impact on drilling could be significant, allowing the drilling engineer to prepare for, and if necessary avoid, problems that have been found. This study explores if there is a correlation between seismic attributes and seismically derived mechanical properties to predict ROP. The seismic survey of this study is located in the Anadarko Shelf of Northern Oklahoma. Seismic attributes that may be indirectly related to the depositional and tectonic history are extracted from seismic data along well bores in the depth domain. Seismic estimates of mechanical parameters are derived from seismic inversion and AVAz analysis. We will show the results of several correlation techniques including multilinear regression, neural networks, and alternating conditional expectation (ACE) algorithms.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90221 © 2015 Mid-Continent Section, Tulsa, Oklahoma, October 4-6, 2015