Dolomite reservoir delineation by integrating paleotopography and seismic attribute analysis

Yandong Li*, Wei Liu and Yan Zhang, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, PetroChina Co. Ltd.
Summary Paleotopography Recovery Dolomite reservoir characterization poses great challenges to exploration geophysicists, mainly because of its complex geologic origin and peculiar petrophysical properties. The formation of good dolomite reservoir is closely related to dissolution effect which is controlled by paleotopography. Therefore, we implement dolomite reservoir characterization at a study area in the Precaspian Basin using an integrated seismic attribute analysis approach constrained by paleotopography. The paleotopography provides background for determining the favorable facies belt with strong dissolution effect. Coherence and volume curvature attributes are used to characterize faults and fractures which determine the formation of porous dolomite reservoir. Finally, spectral decomposition is utilized to highlight amplitude anomalies caused by dissolved dolomite reservoirs. Using this integrated approach, we successfully delineated the distribution of the dolomite reservoir in the study area, and the results were calibrated and validated by the 36 drilled wells. Introduction Dolomite reservoirs are attractive exploration targets throughout the world. However, its characterization is difficult due to its complex geological origin and peculiar petrophysical properties (Strecker et al., 2004). There are numerous kinds of mechanism for dolomitization and to determine which one is dominant in a given area is quite difficult (Logel, 2004). Furthermore, the petrophysical property of the dolomite reservoir is peculiar, with high velocity, high modulus and small contrast between reservoir and non-reservoir rocks. The formation of good dolomite reservoir is closely related to dissolution effect and the resulted karsting, which is controlled by the paleotopography. Therefore, we first recover the paleotopography of the dolomite formation to recognize favorable facies belt with strong dissolution effect. Then we perform reservoir characterization using seismic attribute analysis. Since dissolution is closely related to the faults and fractures which determine the formation of good dolomite reservoir, we use coherence and 3D curvature to delineate faults and fractures (Hart et al., 2009). Finally, spectral decomposition is combined with coherence and curvature to better delineate the distribution of the dolomite reservoir. The reservoir characterization results were calibrated with the 36 drilled wells and the results verified the effectiveness of our approach. The paleotopography only provides information about the likely locations where dissolved dolomite reservoir will develop. The detailed distribution of the dolomite reservoir must be obtained by integrating the seismic attribute information. Here we mainly use coherence, curvature and spectral decomposition. Coherence helps to characterize faults and fractures and curvature indirectly measures the degree of development of fractures. These two attributes are closely related to the formation of dolomite reservoir and subsequent dissolution. In addition, spectral decomposition attribute is used to highlight amplitude anomalies caused by the porous dolomite reservoir. Real Data Example The real data example is from the Precaspian Basin where Carboniferous carbonate reservoirs are developed under the Permian salt overhangs, which are obvious in the seismic profile in Figure 1. The seven horizons from the top to the bottom are J: Bottom of Jurassic, Salt: Top of the salt dome, P1: Base of the salt dome, KT1: Top of Carboniferous, also being the top of the first carbonate formation, MKT: Base of the first carbonate formation, KT2: Top the second carbonate formation, VISEAN: Base of the second carbonate formation. The huge salt domes in this area pose great challenges to seismic processing and the following reservoir characterization. There are two target layers in this area. The first is the Upper Carboniferous dolomite Paleotopography has a significant effect on the distribution of reservoir porosity and permeability (Dubois, 1980). To recover the paleotopography of the target formation, a reference horizon above the target formation is selected. The time thickness between the reference horizon and the top of the target formation (isochron map) roughly reflects the paleotopography of target formation where dissolution occurs. The selection of reference horizon above the target formation is crucial for the recovery of the paleotopography. Generally, a maximum flooding surface under which shales deposit can be a good candidate. It is because that after the deposition of the target formation and post-depositional exposure, shales will deposit and quickly fill the paleotopography lows. Thus the isochron map could roughly reflect the paleotopography of the target formation if we neglect the compaction effect which is minor in our study area. Seismic Attribute Analysis

2010 SEG SEG Denver 2010 Annual Meeting

Downloaded 04 Jun 2011 to 202.115.141.108. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; see Terms of Use at http://segdl.org/

2314

Dolomite reservoir delineation using seismic attribute analysis

reservoir and the second is the Middle Carboniferous limestone reservoir. Our purpose is to delineate the distribution of the dolomite reservoir in the first target layer between KT1 and MKT. The formation of porous dolomite reservoirs at the Precaspian Basin is closely related to dissolution which has a significant effect on reservoir porosity and permeability. This can be clearly demonstrated in the dolomite reservoir core photo in Figure 2 in which we can see well developed dissolved pores and vugs. The dissolution of dolomite reservoir is closely linked to the paleotopography (Lucia, 2007). This effect is most intense in the ramp area. Therefore, we recovered the paleotopography of the Carboniferous dolomite formation using the method mentioned above. The Lower Permian formation mainly consists of shale. Thus it will fill the paleotopographic lows during sedimentation processes. The top the Lower Permian formation is used as reference horizon to recover the paleotopography. Therefore, by calculating the time thickness between P1 and KT1, we can roughly recover the paleotopography of the top of the KT1 formation. The recovered paleotopography is shown in Figure 3, with the green indicating the paleotopographic highs while the magenta the paleotopographic lows. The relief in Figure 3 shows nearly monotonic decrease from high to low and the flushed channels are well developed. The paleotopographic high is unfavorable facies belt for the formation of dissolved dolomite reservoir. The ramp is the most favorite places where dissolved dolomite reservoir develops. This area can be roughly delineated by the red and light blue. The magenta is the paleotopographic low which is unfavorable for the development of dissolved dolomite reservoir. There are a total of 36 wells in the study area. According to the development of the dolomite reservoir in the target formation, we divide these wells into two classes, Class I wells with thick porous dolomite reservoir and Class II wells with thin non-porous dolomite reservoir or with no dolomite reservoir at all. There are 19 Class I wells which are marked by the filled black circles and 16 class II wells which are indicated by filled white circles. For the 19 Class I wells with thick porous dolomite reservoir, 17 wells are located in the favorite facies belt in the paleotopographic background. For the 16 class II wells, only 3 wells located in the favorite facies belt and the other 13 wells are outside the favorite facies belt. To delineate the distribution faults and fractures, we calculate average coherence in the target dolomite reservoir formation. The results are shown in Figure 4. The class I wells are indicated by the filled red circles while the class II wells are indicated by filled white circles. Figure 4 shows that the Class I wells have a close relationship to faults and

fractures indicated by low coherence regions. Figure 5 shows the most positive curvature attribute in the target formation, which demonstrates that the class I wells is closely related to curvature anomalies. We note that porous dolomite reservoir often causes low amplitude anomalies. As an example, we show an arbitrary seismic profile intersecting one Class II well B and another Class I well A in Figure 6 in which we see that the amplitude at well A is significantly lower than that at well B. Therefore, we extract interval attribute of the target formation from the spectral decomposed 20 Hz iso-frequency volumes and display the results in Figure 6. The results show that most of the Class II wells are located in the high amplitude areas, while most of the Class I wells are located in the low amplitude areas. The discrepancy is due to the interferences from shale adjacent to the dolomite reservoir which also causes amplitude anomalies. Conclusions We performed dolomite reservoir delineation using an integrated paleotopography and seismic attribute analysis approach. Under the constraint of paleotopography, we use coherence, 3D curvature and spectral decomposition to delineate faults and fractures and amplitude anomalies associated with the dissolved porous dolomite reservoir. Calibrating the reservoir characterization results with the 36 drilled wells shows that the proposed approaches effectively delineate the distribution of the dolomite reservoir in the study area at the Precaspian Basin. Acknowledgments The work is co-supported by Key Project on Overseas Hydrocarbon Exploration and Development, CNPC and China State Key Science and Technology Project on Reservoir Characterization Marine Carbonate (2008ZX05004-006).

Figure 2: Core photo of the porous dolomite reservoir at a study area in the Precaspian Basin which clearly shows dissolved touching vugs

2010 SEG SEG Denver 2010 Annual Meeting

Downloaded 04 Jun 2011 to 202.115.141.108. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; see Terms of Use at http://segdl.org/

2315

Dolomite reservoir delineation using seismic attribute analysis

Salt P1 KT1 MKT KT2 Visean

Figure 1: Seismic profile through 3D seismic data volume in which salt domes are obvious. The target dolomite reservoir formation is between the KT1 and MKT. KT1 is an unconformity above which dissolution effect is strong

Figure 3: Paleotopography of top of Carboniferous formation. Green indicates highest places and magenta the lowest ones. The red and light blue are the ramp facies belt where dissolution effect is strong. The filled black circles represent Class I wells with thick porous dolomite reservoir while the filled white circles correspond to Class II wells with thin non-porous dolomite rseseroivr

Figure 4: Average coherence in the target dolomite reservoir formation. The 19 filled red circles represent Class I wells with thick porous dolomite reservoir while the 17 filled white circles correspond to Class II wells with thin non-porous dolomite rseseroivr. The Class I wells are closely related to faults and fractures indicated by the low coherence regions

2010 SEG SEG Denver 2010 Annual Meeting

Downloaded 04 Jun 2011 to 202.115.141.108. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; see Terms of Use at http://segdl.org/

2316

Dolomite reservoir delineation using seismic attribute analysis

Figure 5: Average most positive curvature in the target formation Most of the Class I wells are located in or near the regions with curvature anomalies

Figure 7: Interval attribute of the 20 Hz iso-frequency volume in the target formation. Low amplitude areas indicate favorable facies belt for porous dolomite reservoirs

Figure 6 Arbitrary seismic profile connecting well A with thick porous dolomite reservoir and well B with thin tight limestone reservoir. The inserted well curves are porosity which exhibit conspicuous difference between well A and B

2010 SEG SEG Denver 2010 Annual Meeting

Downloaded 04 Jun 2011 to 202.115.141.108. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; see Terms of Use at http://segdl.org/

2317

EDITED REFERENCES Note: This reference list is a copy-edited version of the reference list submitted by the author. Reference lists for the 2010 SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts have been copy edited so that references provided with the online metadata for each paper will achieve a high degree of linking to cited sources that appear on the Web. REFERENCES

Dubois, M. K., 1980, Paleotopography's influence on porosity distribution in the Lansing-Kansas City "E" zone, Hitchcock County, Nebraska: AAPG Bulletin, 64 , 701. Hart, B. S., J. A. Sagan, and O. C. Ogiesoba, 2009, Lessons learned from 3-D seismic attribute studies of hydrothermal dolomite reservoirs: CSEG Recorder, 18-23. Logel, J. D., 2004, Pitfalls in rock properties and lithology prediction in dolomite: SEG, Expanded Abstracts, 260-263. Lucia, F. J., 2007, Carbonate reservoir characterization-an integrated approach: Springer. Strecker, U., M. Smith, R. Uaen, M. B. Carr, G. Taylor, and S. Knapp, 2004, Seismic attribute analysis in hydrothermal dolomite, Devonian Slave Point Formation, Northeast British Columbia, Canada: SEG, Expanded Abstracts, 378-381.

2010 SEG SEG Denver 2010 Annual Meeting

Downloaded 04 Jun 2011 to 202.115.141.108. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; see Terms of Use at http://segdl.org/

2318