PRACTICAL AVO

Part 5 – AVO Case Studies

Theory 5-1
 Introduction
In this section, we will be looking at three AVO case studies, published
in the literature:
literature

Leading Edge November, 2000:

Theory 5-2
In this section, we will be looking at three AVO case studies, published
in the literature:
literature
Geophysics, Sept, 1994:

Geophysics, Feb, 1992:

Theory 5-3
 Onshore Texas Example
Our first example comes from a paper by Mark Gregg and Charles
Bukowski (Leading Edge, November, 2000).

This paper shows a very practical example of the application of AVO

to a mature basin.

Theory 5-4
The exploration objective was the
elastic Oligocene Vicksburg
formation in South Texas.

This has produced more than 3

trillion ft3 of gas since the 1920’s,
but not much AVO work has been
reported.

The authors believe the lack of

AVO application comes because
“the Vicksburg trend is not a
typical amplitude-supported
play”.

Theory 5-5
The motivation for using AVO
came from results like those
shown on the left.

Using the conventional post-

stack data, it is difficult to
distinguish Gas from Wet sand
before drilling.

Prior to AVO analysis, the

authors had drilled one
commercial gas well, one non-
commercial gas well, and three
dry holes.

Theory 5-6
These curves from the gas
discovery well show both a
Gas and a Wet zone.

The change in acoustic

impedance is small but the
change in Poisson’s ratio
is large.

This suggests a class 2

AVO anomaly.

Theory 5-7
Synthetic modeling
confirmed the expected
class 2 response.

Theory 5-8
The data was
reprocessed to include
nonhyperbolic moveout.
This turned out to be
critical, as the figure
shows.

Theory 5-9
A very useful indicator is the
Near and Far Angle Stack.

Note that the Gas sand

shows its brightest response
on the Far Angle stack, as
expected for the class 2
behavior.

The authors used the Far

Angle Stack as the main tool
for searching for new
anomalies.

Theory 5-10
The authors studied the existing wells and came to these
conclusions:

(1) There were about 100 gas wells in the area with cumulative
production > 1 billion ft3.
(2) About ½ of these were associated with class 2 AVO anomalies.
(3) About 65% of the ~70 drilled anomalies were commercial gas
accumulations.
(4) Thicker, better-developed reservoirs produced the most
distinctive anomalies.
(5) Threshold gross reservoir thickness required to produce an
anomaly was about 30-60ft.
(6) Most productive anomalies were at depths of 5,000-10,000 ft.

Theory 5-11
This is the first
drilled anomaly.

100 ft gross interval

with 72 ft of net pay,
producing initially 3
million ft3 of gas per
day.

Since the anomaly is

not visible on the
conventional stack,
this would not have
been drilled without
the AVO analysis.

Theory 5-12
A second anomaly was
identified by interpreting the
far-angle stack using
Landmark’s Earthcube
software.

This had not been identified

before AVO, because of the
poor quality of the
convention stack. This was
presumed to be because of
the small acoustic
impedance contrast.

Note that there appear to be

multiple anomalies at the
prospective level.
Theory 5-13
The drilled well
encountered 2 pay
zones.

Upper zone: gross

thickness of 54 ft,
with 28 ft net pay.

Lower zone: gross

thickness of 214 ft
with 69 ft net pay.

Initial production
rate was 5.3 million
ft3 with estimated
ultimate recovery of
14 billion ft3.
Theory 5-14
Two more
successful wells are
shown here.

Theory 5-15
This is an unsuccessful result. The drilling encountered 105 ft of
clean, low-gas-saturated sand at the anomaly.

Theory 5-16
Results:

(1) Six commercial discoveries.

(2) Two dry holes, caused by low gas saturation.
(3) This is a 75% success rate, dramatically improved from the original
20% success rate.

Authors’ conclusions:

(1) Know your rocks. Do the modeling.

(2) Look beyond conventional seismic techniques, e.g. AVO.
(3) Low gas saturation remains a pitfall of the AVO method.

Theory 5-17
 South African Example
Our next example comes from a paper by Fatti et al (Geophysics,
September, 1994).

We will not review their complete paper, but simply summarize their
approach and look at the 3D results.

Their paper shows an example of the fluid factor method applied to a

actual reservoir.

We will start with the figure on the next page, which shows a depth
structure contour map of the top of a shallow marine gas reservoir
sandstone.

Theory 5-18
 Depth structure
contour map
interpreted from
3D seismic data.

Theory 5-19
Fatti et al (1994)
 The Fluid Factor - Theory
Recall that Smith and Gidlow also proposed the “fluid factor”
factor stack by
using Castagna’s mudrock line,
line as follows:

 VP VS  VS
F   1.16
VP VP VS

This was modified by Fatti et al (Smith was the second author) in the
following way, and is the approach used to compute fluid factor in this
paper:

VS
F  RP  1.16 RS
VP
Theory 5-20
 Conventional Approach
The amplitude map on the next slide shows the conventional approach
to using 3D data to define the extent of a reservoir.

It consists of the maximum value of amplitude envelope picked from a

stacked dataset, but contains no AVO information.
information

Notice that the limit of the actual gas field is poorly defined, and that
some of the gas wells are not associated with a good seismic amplitude
response.

Theory 5-21
 Amplitude Envelope Map

Maximum
value of
amplitude
envelope
from
conventional
seismic.

Theory 5-22
Fatti et al (1994)
 The Fluid Factor Approach
The amplitude maps on the next three slides show the application of the
fluid factor approach to define the reservoir.

The first map shows the fluid factor from the top-of-gas event.

The second map shows the fluid factor from the base-of-gas event.

The third map shows the sum of the fluid factors from the top-of-gas
event and the base-of-gas event.

Notice the better definition of the reservoir.

Theory 5-23
 Fluid factor amplitude from top-of-gas event.

Theory 5-24
Fatti et al (1994)
 Fluid factor amplitude from base-of-gas event.

Theory 5-25
Fatti et al (1994)
 Sum of fluid factor amplitude maps from top-of-gas and
base-of-gas events.

Theory 5-26
Fatti et al (1994)
 North Sea Example
This example comes from a paper by Snyder and Wrolstad (“Direct
Detection using AVO, Central Graben, North Sea”, Geophysics, February, 1992 ).

In this study, the authors used AVO modeling and analysis to try to
predict the presence of hydrocarbons on the west flank of the Central
Graben in the North Sea.
Sea

The productive sand is a submarine fan that was deposited during the
Lower Eocene.
Eocene

The figure on the next page shows the available well and seismic
coverage, which is scant.

Theory 5-27
The figure on the right shows the
position of two exploration lines,
ECL-1 with a gas discovery (Well
A) and ECL-2 untested.

The objective is to use AVO

modeling and analysis to
determine if, and where, to drill
on the second line.

The lines are shown in the next

two slides.

Theory 5-28
Snyder and Wrolstad (1992)
 The figure below shows line ECL-1 with the gas sand
synthetic inserted.

Theory 5-29
Snyder and Wrolstad (1992)
 The figure below shows line ECL-2, which is undrilled,
and therefore the objective of the study.

Snyder and Wrolstad (1992) Theory 5-30

 North Sea Example - Modeling
To model the gas sand, the following sequence of modeling steps were
followed:

The log data was blocked with 200 layers.

S-wave velocities were computed for each layer using the Biot-
Gassmann method, as modified by Gregory.
Gregory
The sonic P-wave velocities were check shot corrected.
The far field wavelet was used as the synthetic wavelet.
The receiver array response and spherical divergence factor were
included.
Real data recording geometry (60 channels with receiver spacing =
50 m and near offset = 209 m) was used.
The real data processing steps were applied to the synthetic.

The model for the gas sand is shown in the next slide.

Theory 5-31
North Sea Example - Well logs
The figure to the left shows
the well log suite that was
used to perform the
modeling. Four cases were
modeled using fluid
replacement:
replacement the in-situ
case (oil plus 93% gas), oil
plus 10% gas, all oil-filled,
and all water-filled.

Theory 5-32
Snyder and Wrolstad (1992)
Depth P-velocity S-velocity Density Vp/Vs Poisson's
(ft) (ft/s) (ft/s) (g/cc) Ratio Ratio
4881 7045 3849 2.14 1.83 0.287
4914 7288 4021 2.17 1.81 0.281
4918 sh 6947 3803 2.14 1.83 0.286
4950 7244 3996 2.20 1.81 0.281
4955 7001 3879 2.19 1.80 0.278
5091 6799 3657 2.27 1.86 0.296 The figure to the left shows
5094
5099
5587
5893
3157
3453
1.87
1.91
1.77
1.71
0.266
0.239
a detailed analysis of the
5110 5802 3362 1.92 1.73 0.247 well log values over the
5115 6925 4083 1.87 1.70 0.234
5120 gas 6883 4388 1.83 1.57 0.158 blocked zones. Notice the
5124
5142
ss 6417
6920
3822
4077
1.95
1.93
1.68
1.70
0.225
0.234
rapid variation in the
5149 7379 4663 1.85 1.58 0.168 Poisson’s ratio values, and
5158 7118 4464 1.84 1.59 0.176
5196 7669 4707 1.88 1.63 0.198
their lower than expected
5202 7428 4621 1.87 1.61 0.184 values in the shale.
5210 7634 3986 2.06 1.92 0.313
5211 8078 4277 2.06 1.89 0.305
5229 8386 4415 2.13 1.90 0.308
oil
5234 7864 4266 2.01 1.84 0.291
ss
5252 8128 4350 2.08 1.87 0.299
5259 7573 4054 2.00 1.87 0.299
5266 8070 4414 2.01 1.83 0.287
5281 8161 5162 2.09 1.58 0.166
5287 7814 4971 2.06 1.57 0.160
water
5297 8410 4540 2.10 1.85 0.294
ss
5367 9130 5388 2.16 1.69 0.233
5372 8527 4550 2.09 1.87 0.301
5402 8972 4901 2.18 1.83 0.287
5407 8329 4408 2.18 1.89 0.305
5434 7730 4187 2.16 1.85 0.292
5440 sh 8030 4319 2.13 1.86 0.297
5445 8521 4506 2.15 1.89 0.306
5450 7726 4140 2.18 1.87 0.299 Theory 5-33
5459 10073 5567 2.16 1.81 0.280
Snyder and Wrolstad (1992)
 North Sea Example - Model Results
The figure below shows the model results on the right, with the real
data on the left. The sand appears to be a Class 2 (but is not!).

Theory 5-34
Snyder and Wrolstad (1992)
 North Sea Example - SODAS Analysis

The analysis scheme used for this

data was called SODAS (Seismic
Offset Dependent Amplitude Stack),
Stack a
trade name of Unocal,
Unocal and consists of
displaying the data with the colour
scheme shown on the left, where three
partial stack amplitudes are analyzed.

Theory 5-35
Snyder and Wrolstad (1992)
 North Sea Example - Model Results
The figure below shows the results of doing a SODAS analysis of the
models, where fluid substitution has been used to create four separate
cases. Notice that the oil and gas model is indistinguishable from the oil
and 10% gas model.

Theory 5-36
Snyder and Wrolstad (1992)
 North Sea Example - Line ECL-1
The figure below shows the SODAS processing of line ECL-1. The blue
colour for the anomaly corresponds to an amplitude decrease.

Theory 5-37
Snyder and Wrolstad (1992)
 North Sea Example - Line ECL-2

The figure above shows the SODAS processing of line ECL-2. The
authors predicted a wet, or possibly partially gas saturated, result here,
although the anomalous zone, in orange could point out a Class 3
Theory 5-38
anomaly. Snyder and Wrolstad (1992)