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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

Houston Geological Society Bulletin

Abstract


Houston Geological Society Bulletin, Volume 52, No. 6, February 11, 2010. Page 11 - 11.

Abstract: Reservoir-Scale Previous HitSeismicNext Hit Stratigraphy: A Call to Integration

Bruce Hart
ConocoPhillips

The introduction of Previous HitseismicNext Hit-stratigraphic techniques in the 1970s gave sedimentary geologists in the petroleum industry and academia new tools for predicting lithology and analyzing the depositional history of sedimentary basins. Previous HitSeismicNext Hit stratigraphy originally focused on large-scale exploration problems and was based on analyses of 2-D Previous HitseismicNext Hit data in areas that were relatively “data-poor” (i.e., few logs, core, or production data). Although these conventional seismicstratigraphic analyses are still used fruitfully, new challenges and opportunities confront the petroleum industry as it faces the need to improve recoveries from mature fields. These areas are commonly data-rich (lots of log, core, and production data), and covered by relatively small 3-D Previous HitseismicNext Hit surveys that do not image all of the sequences or systems tracts that include the reservoir rocks. As such, a new mindset is needed, here termed reservoir-scale Previous HitseismicNext Hit stratigraphy, to help geoscientists maximize the stratigraphic information they can extract from Previous HitseismicNext Hit data. Integration of geological and geophysical concepts and data is critical. Techniques employed by geophysicists for at least the past decade (inversion, Previous HitseismicNext Hit Previous HitattributeNext Hit studies, Previous HitseismicNext Hit facies analysis, etc.) need to become routine parts of the sedimentary geologist’s toolkit, whereas Previous HitseismicTop interpreters need to study outcrops, cores, and modern analogs in order to anticipate the presence of depositional features that cannot be resolved seismically. This cross-disciplinary interaction will undoubtedly spawn new breakthroughs in sedimentary geology, reflection seismology, petroleum geology, and related fields (e.g., hydrogeology). These are exciting times.

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