Use of 3-D
Seismic
Attributes to Resolve
Structural
and Stratigraphic Uncertainties in Carbonate Reservoirs: Examples
from
North
Kuwait, Kuwait
Carbonate depositional systems by virtue of their inherent
complexities present many challenges when attempting to identify and delineate
a carbonate reservoir from
seismic
data
. Conventional
3-D
seismic
interpretation is often inadequate for mapping strati-
structural
features and
complexities in carbonate systems that have a direct bearing on characterizing
reservoir geometries. An example of this challenge is represented by the
depositional sequences of the various carbonate reservoirs of northern Kuwait.
To characterize these reservoirs more unconventional techniques and work-flows
are required to accomplish the task.
The objective of this study is to demonstrate a
unique interpretation workflow using multi-attribute analysis and visualization
techniques that were applied
to selected carbonate reservoirs to decipher their
complex stratigraphic/
structural
details to minimize the uncertainties in fine
tuning reservoir shape and geometries.
We targeted the problems in two steps. The first was
to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the available 3-D
seismic
data
using
appropriate re-processing steps to better image the depositional geometries and
structural
features. The second step was to highlight and isolate those
specific geological features in
3-D
using various
seismic
attributes aided by
3D visualization process. By integrating these results with sub-surface
data
it
was possible to speed-up the interpretation processes by resolving all possible
structural
and stratigraphic uncertainties.
The results showed that seismic
data
reprocessing
efforts significantly improved the
data
quality. Both horizon based and window
based
structural
attributes coupled with amplitude based 3D
seismic
attributes
were used to attack the interpretation challenge. This helped resolve stratigraphic-
structural
uncertainties leading to a more accurate
characterization of the reservoir geometries.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90142 © 2012 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, April 22-25, 2012, Long Beach, California