Joint Estimation of Porosity and Saturation Using Stochastic Rock Physics Modeling

Author(s):  
R. Bachrach ◽  
N. Dutta
Geophysics ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. O53-O63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ran Bachrach

Sediment porosity and saturation affect bulk modulus, shear modulus, and density. Consequently, estimating hydrocarbon saturation and reservoir porosity from seismic data is a joint estimation problem: Uncertainty in porosity will lead to errors in saturation prediction, and vice versa. Porosity and saturation can be jointly estimated using stochastic rock-physics modeling and formal Bayesian estimation methodology. Knowledge of shear impedance reduces the uncertainty in porosity and thus also reduces uncertainty in saturation estimation. This study investigates joint estimation of porosity and saturation by using rock-physics, stochastic modeling, and Bayesian estimation theory to derive saturation and porosity maps of expected pay sands. In the field example, the uncertainty in porosity, quantified by the standard deviation (STD) associated with the posterior probability density function (pdf), derived from inversion of seismic data is much less than the uncertainty in the derived saturation. For a typical case, the STD associated with saturation is [Formula: see text] while porosity STD is about 1.34 porosity units given seismic-derived inversion attributes with reasonable accuracy. Comparison of these numbers with prior estimates showed that inversion of seismic data decreased the uncertainty in porosity to 15% of the prior uncertainty while saturation uncertainty was only reduced to 92% of the prior uncertainty. Although these results may vary from one location to another, the methodology is general and can be applied to other locations.


Geophysics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 81 (5) ◽  
pp. C177-C191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunyue Li ◽  
Biondo Biondi ◽  
Robert Clapp ◽  
Dave Nichols

Seismic anisotropy plays an important role in structural imaging and lithologic interpretation. However, anisotropic model building is a challenging underdetermined inverse problem. It is well-understood that single component pressure wave seismic data recorded on the upper surface are insufficient to resolve a unique solution for velocity and anisotropy parameters. To overcome the limitations of seismic data, we have developed an integrated model building scheme based on Bayesian inference to consider seismic data, geologic information, and rock-physics knowledge simultaneously. We have performed the prestack seismic inversion using wave-equation migration velocity analysis (WEMVA) for vertical transverse isotropic (VTI) models. This image-space method enabled automatic geologic interpretation. We have integrated the geologic information as spatial model correlations, applied on each parameter individually. We integrate the rock-physics information as lithologic model correlations, bringing additional information, so that the parameters weakly constrained by seismic are updated as well as the strongly constrained parameters. The constraints provided by the additional information help the inversion converge faster, mitigate the ambiguities among the parameters, and yield VTI models that were consistent with the underlying geologic and lithologic assumptions. We have developed the theoretical framework for the proposed integrated WEMVA for VTI models and determined the added information contained in the regularization terms, especially the rock-physics constraints.


Author(s):  
T.V. Nekrasova ◽  
T.F. Sokolova ◽  
E.O. Malysheva ◽  
A.P. Murashka ◽  
G.G. Voykov ◽  
...  

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