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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
Houston Geological Society Bulletin
Abstract
Abstract: Distinguishing Water Saturation Changes from
Porosity or Clay Content Changes Using
Multicomponent Seismic Data
By
Department of Geology and Geophysics,
Texas A&M University,
College Station, Texas 77843
It is difficult to predict whether gas saturation is low or high in reservoir pore spaces prior to drilling. When reservoirs include lateral porosity or clay content changes, this task is even more difficult. However, the problem is easier to address with high-quality multicomponent seismic data. This paper proposes to use DRps/DRpp as a partial gas indicator (PGI), where DRps and DRpp are defined as the change in the P-SV and P-P reflection coefficients, respectively. The target portion of the reservoir is compared with an inferred background portion of the reservoir, which is assumed to be 100% water saturated.
The DRps/DRpp ratio behaves quite differently for high and low
gas saturations, as shown by theoretical reflection coefficient
computation for a range of examples using the Zoeppritz and
Gassmann's equations. The responses of DRps/DRpp to porosity
and clay content changes are computed using empirical relationships
among velocities, porosity and clay content (Wang and
Nur, 1992; Han et al., 1986; Eberhart-Phillips et al., 1989;
Castagna et al., 1985). The ratio is insensitive to the magnitude
of porosity or clay content changes, and this behavior is very
different from the variations in the ratio associated with changes
in gas saturation.
Theoretical reflection coefficient computation, modeling, and synthetic seismograms show that DRps/DRpp is an effective direct hydrocarbon indicator and PGI for all three classes of gas reservoirs (Rutherford and Williams, 1989) at both shale/sand and sand/shale interfaces. The three classes of reservoirs are classified based on their acoustic impedance contrasts with their overlying shales. The DRps/DRpp ratio can distinguish water saturation changes from porosity or clay content changes and separate regions of high gas saturation from low saturation areas.
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