A Class IV AVO Sand in Saudi Arabia: The Search for the Optimum Lithology and Fluid

Indicator
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Husam AlMustafa* and Luis Giroldi, Saudi Aramco

Summary study area, a discovery well which flowed gas and

The goals of this study are to characterize and understand
the elastic properties of the Z Sandstone and to determine if
discrimination of pore fluids is possible in order to support
the ongoing exploration drilling program. This type of
analysis is quite challenging considering that the reservoir
in the study area, located onshore in the Eastern Province
of Saudi Arabia, is present at depths exceeding 5,000
meters. At these depths it is unusual to have detectable
amplitude variation with offset (AVO) behavior. Different
log-derived attributes are analyzed to study the overall
elastic behavior of the reservoir and to determine the most
effective combinations of attributes to use in discriminating
the hydrocarbon charged sands from the wet sands.
The Z Sandstone is characterized as a Class IV AVO
reservoir where the shale-sand interface has a negative
reflectivity that decreases in intensity with increasing offset
or angle. A simultaneous amplitude variation with angle
(AVA) inversion is performed to try to detect, and map, the
extent of the hydrocarbon charged sands within the study
area. It was found that under certain conditions, the
hydrocarbon bearing reservoir sands could be detected.
condensate and which we refer to as Well-1, and Well-2,
which encountered brine-filled reservoir of poorer quality.
The target reservoir is a Permian eolian sandstone, which in
this study area is present at depths exceeding 5,000 meters.
The pay zone in Well-1 is illustrated in Figure 1. The Z
Sandstone reservoir interval is about 250 feet thick with an
average porosity of 25 percent in the upper portion. It is
overlain by a shaly sandstone with average porosity of
around 10 percent. The two zones are separated by a 60
foot interval consisting mostly of paleosols with negligible
porosity, which constitutes an effective seal between the
two intervals. Reservoir porosity can be used to subdivide
the Z Sandstone into two zones, a 150 foot thick upper zone
of very high porosity, and a 100 foot thick lower zone of
lower porosity.

Introduction and Geologic Background

In recent years, hydrocarbon exploration has become more

focused on subtle stratigraphic traps due to the increasing
scarcity of untested structures. These types of traps usually
require more sophisticated, pre-stack seismic analysis
techniques to reduce the drilling risk. Advances in AVO
technology, such as simultaneous AVA inversion, have
been instrumental in helping map hydrocarbon charged
clastic reservoirs. The need to relate seismic attributes to
reservoir and fluid properties has pushed rock physics
analysis into the limelight. However, in the past, the role of
rock physics in quantitative seismic interpretation has been
overlooked or neglected. The work by Avseth et al. (2005)
has had a profound impact in bridging this gap.
In the literature, there are 4 frequently mentioned AVO
classes. These definitions were determined by examining
the reflectivity at a shale-gas sandstone interface. Figure 1. Pay zone at Well-1. The Z Sandstone reservoir
Rutherford and Williams (1989) defined 3 types of AVO has very good quality sands with an average porosity of
classes. Our interest is the Class IV AVO sandstone, which almost 25 percent in the upper portion of the pay zone.
was described by Castagna and Swan (1997). They
observed a negative reflectivity that decreases in intensity Well-2 contains roughly the same stratigraphic intervals as
with increasing offset or angle. The geologic setting for this Well-1, but the upper zone of the Z Sandstone shows less
type of response is a low impedance gas sandstone overlain well developed massive eolian sands, with an intercalation
by a harder, high impedance, sealing shale layer. of interdune facies of very poor reservoir quality. The
This study is an extension to the work done by AlMustafa lower zone of the Z Sandstone is comparable to that found
and Giroldi (2010). Two wells have been drilled in the in Well-1.

© 2013 SEG DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1190/segam2013-0384.1

SEG Houston 2013 Annual Meeting Page 403
 A Class IV AVO Sand in Saudi Arabia: The Search for the Optimum Lithology and Fluid Indicator

In this section, different log-derived properties are

From the seismic reflectivity data we observed that the well examined and the effects of changes in the pore-fluid
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developed, high porosity eolian sandstones produced a content are determined.

bright, high amplitude response, while the presence of the
interdune deposits produced a dim, weak response. The Part I Acoustic Impedance-Gradient Impedance
high amplitude seismic characteristic of the eolian
sandstones is caused by the low acoustic impedance that is Extended elastic impedance (EEI) (Whitcombe et al., 2002)
related primarily to the high porosity. is an extension to the elastic impedance (EI) derived by
Based on this observation, which is confirmed over several Connolly (1999). EEI can be expressed as a combination of
3D surveys with well control, we concluded that within the Vp, Vs and ρ:
main eolian fairway we could discriminate between major
porosity sweet spots consisting of well-developed dune
 V  a  V  b   
c 
EEI (  )  V po  o    s    
p

 po   Vso    o

facies and surrounding low porosity, interdune facies, and
V  
map them (Giroldi, 2010). The main objective then was to
reduce the exploratory risk by assessing which of the
 
mapped high porosity dune facies had the highest where,
probability of containing hydrocarbons.
a = (cosχ + sinχ)
Rock Physics Modeling b = -8K sinχ
c= (cosχ – 4Ksinχ) and
Using Gassmann’s equations (Gassmann, 1951) we tanχ = sin2Ө
perturbed the original reservoir conditions to see how the
seismic response changes with different fluids. The fluid The constants Vpo, Vso and ρo represent average values of
properties used in the modeling are as follows: Vp, Vs and ρ over the zone of interest. In addition, K is
defined as the mean of (Vs/Vp)2 . Gradient Impedance (GI)
Brine Salinity = 200,000 ppm is a special case of EEI when χ=90 degrees.
Gas Gravity = .70 The EEI approach has been applied in the past for fluid and
Oil Gravity = 51˚ API lithology detection, respectively, in the Z Sandstone in
Gas-Oil-Ratio (GOR) = 1124 scf/stb different regions of Saudi Arabia (AlMustafa et al., 2003
and Neves et al., 2004 ).
The different synthetic CDP offset gathers from the fluid
substitution modeling are displayed in Figure 2. Only zones
where the total porosity exceeded 8 percent and the volume
of shale was less than 35 percent were modeled. Any layer
less than 4 feet was averaged into an adjacent layer.
Looking at the synthetic gathers, there is a clear difference
in AVO response between the brine saturated sandstone
and the hydrocarbon (oil and gas) charged sands. In
addition, the modeled reservoir zone, highlighted by the
black rectangle on the synthetic gathers, is a textbook
example of a decrease in amplitude with offset. This
observed AVO behavior is due to the eolian sandstone’s
unusually high porosity, preserved through a combination
of mechanisms, and the overlying hard, sealing rock layer.
The same modeling sequence was repeated for Well-2 (Fig.
3). A much weaker amplitude response was observed in the
synthetic gathers due to the deterioration in reservoir
quality (lower average porosity with increase of interdune
facies), although the overall AVO signature of the reservoir
continues to be Class IV. Figure 2. Result of Gassmann fluid substitution modeling
within the reservoir (black rectangle) interval. The AVO
Elastic Properties Evaluation response for hydrocarbons (oil and gas) is stronger than
that from brine. The offset reflectivity (black arrow) shown
in the oil and gas gathers is characteristic of a Class IV

© 2013 SEG DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1190/segam2013-0384.1

SEG Houston 2013 Annual Meeting Page 404
 A Class IV AVO Sand in Saudi Arabia: The Search for the Optimum Lithology and Fluid Indicator
AVO anomaly (negative reflectivity that decreases in
intensity with offset).
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Figure 4 displays the three fluid (brine, oil and gas)
scenarios in addition to the sealing shale on an acoustic
impedance (AI) vs. gradient impedance (GI) crossplot
upscaled to the seismic scale by applying a high cut filter (0
to 60 Hz). We can discriminate between the hydrocarbon
charged and brine saturated sands. Moreover, the overlying
paleosols are clearly separated from the sandstones. The
work done by Whitcombe and Fletcher (2001) shows that
we can draw two orthogonal axes, a fluid and lithology
axis. The fluid axis will enable us to separate the brine from
the oil and gas. The lithology axis discriminates the Z
Sandstone from the overlying paleosols.
Figure 5 illustrates the important role porosity plays in the
ability to determine the fluids in the reservoir. There is
enhanced fluid fill discrimination as porosity increases
above 17 percent.
Figure 3. Well-2 shows a much weaker amplitude response
in the modeled CDP gathers (black arrow) than those seen
in Well-1. This is due to the deterioration in reservoir
quality. Note that the overall AVO signature of the
reservoir continues to be Class IV.
Part II Acoustic Impedance-Vp/Vs
Figure 6 shows Vp/Vs ratio vs. AI upscaled to the seismic
by applying a high cut filter (0 to 60 Hz). Using only AI as
a pore fluid discriminator is insufficient for separating the
fluids due to the overlap between the brine and the gas. The
addition of the Vp/Vs ratio greatly enhances the ability to
differentiate between brine and hydrocarbon charged sands.
Analyzing changes in pore fluid is possible in both
© 2013 SEG
SEG Houston 2013 Annual Meeting
domains, AI vs. GI, and to a greater extent, AI vs. Vp/Vs.
In the subsequent section the results of simultaneous
inversion for AI and Vp/Vs combined with rock physics
analysis is used to help discriminate the hydrocarbon
charged sands.
Simultaneous AVA Inversion for Elastic Properties
As noted in the log-based rock properties evaluation, the Z
Sandstone and the overlying section separate better in AI-
Vp/Vs space according to fluid content, lithology, and
porosity. These observations are used to evaluate the
simultaneous pre-stack inversion results. The objective of
simultaneous inversion is to estimate an optimal elastic
model in AI and Vp/Vs ratio consistent with the observed
amplitude variation with angle of the seismic data. This is
achieved by minimizing an objective function which
measures the misfit between the measured data and
synthetic data at each angle of incidence.
Figure 4. Acoustic Impedance vs. Gradient Impedance
crossplot enables us to discriminate between different
fluids and lithology by drawing two axes.
The inversion is stabilized through a set of regularization
terms by taking into account the well log information and
the seismic interpretation. Input to the simultaneous
inversion are near, mid, and far angle stacks, with angle
ranges of 5˚ to 15˚, 15˚ to 25˚ and 25˚ to 35˚ respectively.
To produce optimum results, the pre-stack seismic data
needs to be properly enhanced. This requires alignment of
the angle-stack seismic data prior to the simultaneous
inversion workflow to remove the effects of residual
normal moveout.
Simultaneous Inversion Results and Geobody
Extraction
The output from simultaneous inversion are P-impedance,
S-impedance and Vp/Vs volumes. The P-impedance and
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 A Class IV AVO Sand in Saudi Arabia: The Search for the Optimum Lithology and Fluid Indicator
Vp/Vs volumes are used together to highlight oil and gas
zones within the Z Sandstone. To guide the geobody
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extraction, a polygon representing hydrocarbon charged
reservoir on the AI-Vp/Vs crossplot is used to constrain
the results. In Figure 7 we have highlighted the geobodies
(black color) on a traverse between Well-1 and Well-2.
Predicted hydrocarbon charged geobodies can be seen
highlighted around Well-1. Extracted 3D geobodies are
shown in Figure 8. Well-4 was being drilled at the same
time these results were being produced and found
hydrocarbons.
Figure 5. As porosity increases above 17%, there is
enhanced fluid discrimination (black rectangle) seen on the
crossplot
Wells 3 and 5, which are proposed follow-up well
locations, fall within the limits of the extracted geobodies
and warrant further investigation. The inversion results
predict hydrocarbons at Well location 3.
Figure 6: AI-Vp/Vs ratio crossplot is effective in
discriminating pore fluids in addition to lithology changes.
© 2013 SEG
SEG Houston 2013 Annual Meeting
Conclusions
Adopting a thorough rock physics analysis prior to any
exploration study is critical. This study has shown that the
Z Sandstone shows Class IV AVO behaviour, and in some
cases fluid type can be discriminated. Fluids within the
reservoir can be discriminated more effectively using AI-
Vp/Vs than AI-GI. Results show fluid discrimination is
enhanced as porosity increases to levels above 17 percent.
This detailed analysis has enabled us to develop a petro-
elastic model that is characteristic of the Z Sandstone
reservoir. This has given us with the ability to detect
hydrocarbon bearing geobodies from the AVA results.
Constraining the pre-stack inversion using rock physics
derived constraints is necessary for the workflow to reduce
the risk associated with the laterally varying Class IV AVO
Figure 7: P-impedance and Vp/Vs volumes from
simultaneous inversion along a traverse between Well-1
and Well-2. Note the hydrocarbon bearing geobodies
(highlighted in black) at the discovery Well-1.
Figure 8. The extracted geobodies using the AI-Vp/Vs
constraints from well log data to guide the characterization
of the Z Sandstone reservoir.
Acknowledgements
We thank Saudi Aramco for its permission to publish this
work.
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