Workshop 6

Description

Frontier exploration often targets stratigraphic features. Observation of seismic DHIs should help mitigate the sealing risk. Statistics show that many so-called Amplitude- or AVO-supported prospects, aka DHI-supported prospects, end up as being good quality sands but brine bearing.

As a matter of fact, robust DHI evaluation heavily relies on the comparison between the prospect and a potential brine leg of the same reservoir encased within the same sealing formations. This situation is not always observable or can be confused with a stratigraphic shaling out.

The objective of this workshop is to address these stratigraphic issues and relationships to DHIs. The aim is to gather seasoned explorationists to share experience and discuss the questions:  Can SQI overcome the lack of a brine leg? How so? Would SQI in this context boil down to reducing the risk of finding good reservoir?

In passive margins, reservoir properties, net-to-gross and thickness often vary along the structural strike smearing up-/down-dip comparisons, thus, making a valid assessment of depth conformity problematical. How can SQI mitigate those alternate scenarios? How can we gain confidence in the existence of a brine leg?

It is also common practice to compare the prospect’s seismic response to expectations derived from seismic modeling based on anticipated rock physics. How can we evaluate its relevance in the context of distant reference well(s) and uncalibrated seismic data?

Obviously, integration between geology and geophysics is key to address the issue. How should it be performed? And should “SQI” be renamed as Seismic Quantitative Integration?

Sub-Topics that will be covered in the workshop:

• Stratigraphic trap definition(s) / classification
• Observations on basic data vs. effective use of derivative/compound products 
• Lessons from seismic modeling of reservoir properties
• Key DHI characteristics for prospect evaluation
• Industry experience
• Integration with the geological model
• Identification of brine leg versus a shale out
• Understanding how seismic tuning impacts evaluations
• Lessons learned for stratigraphic traps as high-amplitude lobes