Fluid Discrimination Based on Frequency-Dependent AVO Inversion with the Elastic Parameter Sensitivity Analysis

Abstract

Fluid discrimination is an extremely important part of seismic data interpretation. It plays an important role in the refined description of hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs. The conventional AVO inversion based on Zoeppritz’s equation shows potential in lithology prediction and fluid discrimination; however, the dispersion and attenuation induced by pore fluid are not fully considered. The relationship between dispersion terms in different frequency-dependent AVO equations has not yet been discussed. Following the arguments of Chapman, the influence of pore fluid on elastic parameters is analyzed in detail. We find that the dispersion and attenuation of Russell fluid factor, Lamé parameter, and bulk modulus are more pronounced than those of P-wave modulus. The Russell fluid factor is most prominent among them. Based on frequency-dependent AVO inversion, the uniform expression of different dispersion terms of these parameters is derived. Then, incorporating the P-wave difference with the dispersion terms, we obtain new P-wave difference dispersion factors which can identify the gas-bearing reservoir location better compared with the dispersion terms. Field data application also shows that the dispersion term of Russell fluid factor is optimal in identifying fluid. However, the dispersion term of Russell fluid factor could be unsatisfactory, if the value of the weighting parameter associated with dry rock is improper. Then, this parameter is studied to propose a reasonable setting range. The results given by this paper are helpful for the fluid discrimination in hydrocarbon-bearing rocks.

Nonlinear AVA Inversion Based on a Novel Quadratic Approximation for Fluid Discrimination

“…where V P , V S , and ρ are the P-and S-wave velocities and density of saturated rock, respectively, γ 2 dry = ðV P /V S Þ 2 dry represents the square of the dry-rock velocity ratio. Russell et al [5,6] and Wang [30] had discussed the effect of γ 2 dry on the reflection coefficients in detail. It is usually estimated from well logging data and is treated as a constant in the inversion algorithm [13,14].…”

A New Fluid Mobility Calculation Method Based on Frequency-Dependent AVO Inversion

“…Frequency-dependent effects associated with hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs provide theoretical supports for computing reservoir-related attributes using seismic data. The frequency-dependent AVO (FDAVO) inversion method provides an approach to estimate the dispersion attribute for reservoir delineation (Wilson et al, 2009;Wu et al, 2012;Chen et al, 2014;Liu et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2019;Luo et al, 2020;Jin et al, 2021). Therefore, the FDAVO inversion is being explored to extract fluid mobility using the frequency-dependent information of seismic data.…”