Seismic Attenuation and Velocity Dispersion to Discriminate Gas Hydrates and Free Gas Zone, Makran Offshore, Pakistan

Gas hydrates gained a remarkable attention as an unconventional energy resource recently. In order to interpret gas hydrates (part of fluid) and free gas saturated zone accurately, it is essential to implement new technique related to seismic attenuation and velocity dispersion. P wave attenuation and velocity dispersion in porous media made promising imprints for exploration of gas hydrates. The most prominent phenomenon for attenuation and velocity dispersion in porous media is wave induced fluid flow in which wave inhomogeneities are larger than pore size but smaller than wavelength. Numerical simulation technique is applied to analyze frequency dependent velocity dispersion and attenuation in gas hydrates and free gas layer in Makran offshore of Pakistan. Homogeneous and patchy distribution patterns of gas hydrates and free gas within pore spaces of host sediments at lower and higher frequency regime are considered. It is noted that the attenuation and velocity dispersion increase with the increase in gas hydrates saturation. The maximum attenuation is observed at 66% saturation of gas hydrates in the area under investigation. However, in case of water and gas mixture the maximum attenuation and velocity dispersion occur at low gas saturation (~15%). Therefore, based on our numerical simulation, velocity dispersion and attenuation can be used as seismic attributes to differentiate various gas saturations and gas hydrates saturation for Makran offshore area of Pakistan.

Forward modeling and inversion of the relation model between the gas content of plume and its seismic attribute

The methane bubble plume attracts interest because it offers direct evidence of seafloor gas leakage and plays an indirect role in the exploration and identification of natural gas hydrate.In this study,based on established plume models and their migration sections,three amplitude-class attributes were extracted from three formations for the migration sections of five plumes,and the correlation between the gas content and seismic attribute was obtained.As the gas content increases,the amplitude attribute correspondingly increases,and the linear correlation is relatively good.Moreover,correlation coefficients between gas content and amplitude attributes are close to 1.0.By using linear fitting,the relation model between the gas content of the plume and the seismic attribute was obtained.The relation model was subsequently used to invert the gas content from a real databearing plume.Comparison of the gas content section of the plume with the attribute section and real seismic section reveals common distribution characteristics,namely,the color of the section in the lower right corner is dark.If the amplitude value is large in the seismic section of the real plume,the amplitude attribute value is also large in the corresponding attribute section,and the inverted value of the gas content is also large(because gas content and amplitude are linearly correlated),which indicates that the plume bubbles of the section in the lower right corner is intensively distributed.Finally,the obtained gas content section of the plume can reflect the distribution of the plume bubble content more simply and intuitively,from which the distribution law of seafloor bubbles can be deduced,and this lays a foundation for the further estimation of the gas content of the plume and hydrate reserves.