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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Special Volumes
Abstract
Rick
Sarg
Seismic
imaging of carbonate reservoirs and systems
2004. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.
Sequence-Stratigraphic, Petrophysical, and Multicomponent Seismic Analysis of a Shelf-Margin Reservoir: San Andres Formation (Permian), Vacuum Field, New Mexico, United States
Seismic Analysis of a Shelf-Margin Reservoir: San Andres Formation (Permian), Vacuum Field, New Mexico, United States
Matthew J. Pranter,1 Neil F. Hurley,2 Thomas L. Davis2
1Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, U.S.A.; Present address: University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.
2Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, U.S.A.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank the industry sponsors of the Colorado School of Mines Reservoir Characterization Project for funding and input to this study. The consortium members include AGIP, Amoco Production Company (now BP), Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, ARCO, Chevron Petroleum Technology Company, China National Petroleum Corporation, Compagnie Generale de Geophysique, Conoco Inc. (now ConocoPhillips), Dawson Geophysical Company, Exxon Production Research Company (now ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company), Gas Research Institute (now GTI), GeoQuest/Schlumberger/Geco, Golden Geophysical/Fairfield Industries, Grant Geophysical, Inc., Input/Output, Inc., INTEVEP, S.A., Japan National Oil Corporation, Landmark Graphics Corporation, Marathon Petroleum Technology Company, Maxus Energy Corporation, Nambe Geophysical, Inc., Occidental Oil and Gas Corporation, Oyo Geospace Corporation, PanCanadian Petroleum Limited (now EnCana), Phillips Petroleum Company (now ConocoPhillips), Paradigm Geophysical (formerly CogniSeis), Shell E
P Technology Company, Discovery Bay Company (now Rock Solid Images), Silicon Graphics Corporation, Solid State Geophysical, Texaco Group, Inc. (now Chevron Texaco), Union Pacific Resources Company (now Anadarko Petroleum Corporation), UNOCAL/Sprint Energy, Western Geophysical, and Veritas DGC, Inc.
The study was also supported through research grants and funding from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Geological Society of America, Society of Professional Well Log Analysts (now Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts), and the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. We thank Marathon Petroleum Technology Company for preparing core plugs and conducting capillary-pressure tests.
We thank Thomas A. Jones for his review of an early draft of this document. We thank AAPG reviewers Jim Weber, Susan Longacre, Gregor Eberli, and Phil Inderweisen for their helpful comments and suggestions.
ABSTRACT
This chapter describes an integrated approach to reservoir characterization and three-dimensional (3-D) geologic modeling of the San Andres Formation at Vacuum field, New Mexico, United States. We present techniques to identify significant heterogeneities within a carbonate reservoir using stratigraphic, petrophysical, and 3-D multicomponent seismic data. This integrated approach provides a detailed static description of reservoir heterogeneity and improved delineation of the reservoir framework in terms of flow units.
We use a petrophysics-based method to identify hydraulic flow units within a sequence-stratigraphic framework. Flow units are characterized within high-frequency carbonate sequences through analysis of the vertical variation of flow (kh) and storage capacity (
h) and pore-throat radius (R35) associated with successions of subtidal, intertidal, and supratidal rocks. Pore-throat radii from cored wells are used to modify the empirically derived Winland equation to estimate values of pore-throat radius in noncored wells. Flow profiles, constructed from log porosities and neural-network permeabilities, are correlated and used to build a 3-D geologic-model framework.
Characterization of both matrix and fracture properties within a reservoir is possible using 3-D multicomponent seismic
data and wire-line logs. Compressional- and shear-wave amplitude attributes together provide more accurate porosity estimates than those determined from compressional-wave data alone. Shear-wave anisotropy measurements provide information about inferred fracture density and orientation that can be used to modify permeability models to account for regions with open fractures.
Because of this study, reservoir-simulation models that incorporate modified permeability distributions more accurately account for unexpected early CO2-breakthrough times observed in the field. In addition, flow-simulation results indicate that the need to upscale the geologic model was significantly reduced or eliminated by describing flow units using the combined sequence-stratigraphic- and petrophysics-based method.
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