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7th Middle East Geosciences Conference and Exhibition
Manama, Bahrain
March 27-29, 2006
1 OMV, gerasdorfer str 151, Vienna, A-1120, Austria, phone: 40440, [email protected]
2 Paradigm Geophysical, Woking, GU21 6JG, United Kingdom
Recent exploration success for oil and gas in Triassic Reservoirs in the Ghadames Basin in eastern Algeria suggests a
similar potential in the Tunisian part of the Basin. Due to the subtle structures of the Triassic reservoir strata, the exploration
success has been hampered by inaccurate seismic trap definition, the main causes being static problems due to sanddunes
at surface with low velocities but also by uncertainties in depth-conversion because of velocity
variations in the
deeper section. Trap definition errors caused by
variable
seismic interval velocities within the Mesozoic section related to
the presence of evaporitic units may exceed the uncertainties caused by static problems. Existing well control in the area
indicates that also
velocity
variations in the shallow, sometimes outcropping cretaceous carbonate layers may also cause
significant variations in the depth conversion. Reflection tomography was applied to validate a subtle TAGI time closure
identified within OMV's exploration block. This lead has a closure of 15 ms and modest
velocity
variations in the overburden
may have a significant effect on the size and even validity of the prospect. Location and closure also varies substantially
depending on the processing vintage used. This is primarily due differences of the static corrections. Critical prerequisite
before embarking on tomography was therefore proper pre¬processing with special emphasis on the static solution. The
effects of the horizon based tomographic
velocity
model update on the depth sections (PSDM) are subtle but significant,
resulting in a horizontal shift of the prospect.