The applicability and underlying factors of frequency-dependent amplitude-versus-offset(AVO)inversion

Recently,the great potential of seismic dispersion attributes in oil and gas exploration has attracted extensive attention.The frequency-dependent amplitude versus offset(FAVO)technology,with dispersion gradient as a hydrocarbon indicator,has developed rapidly.Based on the classical AVO theory,the technology works on the assumption that elastic parameters are frequency-dependent,and implements FAVO inversion using spectral decomposition methods,so that it can take dispersive effects into account and effectively overcome the limitations of the classical AVO.However,the factors that affect FAVO are complicated.To this end,we construct a unified equation for FAVO inversion by combining several Zoeppritz approximations.We study and compare two strategies respectively with(strategy 1)and without(strategy 2)velocity as inversion input data.Using theoretical models,we investigate the influence of various factors,such as the Zoeppritz approximation used,P-and S-wave velocity dispersion,inversion input data,the strong reflection caused by non-reservoir interfaces,and the noise level of the seismic data.Our results show that FAVO inversion based on different Zoeppritz approximations gives similar results.In addition,the inversion results of strategy 2 are generally equivalent to that of strategy 1,which means that strategy 2 can be used to obtain dispersion attributes even if the velocity is not available.We also found that the existence of non-reservoir strong reflection interface may cause significant false dispersion.Therefore,logging,geological,and other relevant data should be fully used to prevent this undesirable consequence.Both the P-and S-wave related dispersion obtained from FAVO can be used as good indicators of a hydrocarbon reservoir,but the P-wave dispersion is more reliable.In fact,due to the mutual coupling of P-and S-wave dispersion terms,the P-wave dispersion gradient inverted from PP reflection seismic data has a stronger hydrocarbon detection ability than the S-wave dispersion gradient.Moreover,there is little difference in using post-stack data or pre-stack angle gathers as inversion input when only the P-wave dispersion is desired.The real application examples further demonstrate that dispersion attributes can not only indicate the location of a hydrocarbon reservoir,but also,to a certain extent,reveal the physical properties of reservoirs.

Fluid identification based on frequency-dependent AVO attribute inversion in multi-scale fracture media

A key problem in seismic inversion is the identification of the reservoir fluids. Elastic parameters, such as seismic wave velocity and formation density, do not have sufficient sensitivity, thus, the conventional amplitude-versus-offset（AVO） method is not applicable. The frequency-dependent AVO method considers the dependency of the seismic amplitude to frequency and uses this dependency to obtain information regarding the fluids in the reservoir fractures. We propose an improved Bayesian inversion method based on the parameterization of the Chapman model. The proposed method is based on 1） inelastic attribute inversion by the FDAVO method and 2） Bayesian statistics for fluid identification. First, we invert the inelastic fracture parameters by formulating an error function, which is used to match observations and model data. Second, we identify fluid types by using a Markov random field a priori model considering data from various sources, such as prestack inversion and well logs. We consider the inelastic parameters to take advantage of the viscosity differences among the different fluids possible. Finally, we use the maximum posteriori probability for obtaining the best lithology/fluid identification results.

Direct hydrocarbon identification in shale oil reservoirs using fluid dispersion attribute based on an extended frequency-dependent seismic inversion scheme

The identification of hydrocarbons using seismic methods is critical in the prediction of shale oil res-ervoirs.However,delineating shales of high oil saturation is challenging owing to the similarity in the elastic properties of oil-and water-bearing shales.The complexity of the organic matter properties associated with kerogen and hydrocarbon further complicates the characterization of shale oil reservoirs using seismic methods.Nevertheless,the inelastic shale properties associated with oil saturation can enable the utilization of velocity dispersion for hydrocarbon identification in shales.In this study,a seismic inversion scheme based on the fluid dispersion attribute was proposed for the estimation of hydrocarbon enrichment.In the proposed approach,the conventional frequency-dependent inversion scheme was extended by incorporating the PP-wave reflection coefficient presented in terms of the effective fluid bulk modulus.A rock physics model for shale oil reservoirs was constructed to describe the relationship between hydrocarbon saturation and shale inelasticity.According to the modeling results,the hydrocarbon sensitivity of the frequency-dependent effective fluid bulk modulus is superior to the traditional compressional wave velocity dispersion of shales.Quantitative analysis of the inversion re-sults based on synthetics also reveals that the proposed approach identifies the oil saturation and related hydrocarbon enrichment better than the above-mentioned conventional approach.Meanwhile,in real data applications,actual drilling results validate the superiority of the proposed fluid dispersion attribute as a useful hydrocarbon indicator in shale oil reservoirs.

Fluid identification and effective fracture prediction based on frequency-dependent AVOAz inversion for fractured reservoirs

Fluid and effective fracture identification in reservoirs is a crucial part of reservoir prediction.The frequency-dependent AVO inversion algorithms have proven to be effective for identifying fluid through its dispersion property.However,the conventional frequency-dependent AVO inversion algorithms based on Smith&Gidlow and Aki&Richards approximations do not consider the acquisition azimuth of seismic data and neglect the effect of seismic anisotropic dispersion in the actual medium.The aligned fractures in the subsurface medium induce anisotropy.The seismic anisotropy should be considered while accounting for the seismic dispersion properties through fluid-saturated fractured reservoirs.Anisotropy in such reservoirs is frequency-related due to wave-induced fluid-flow(WIFF)between interconnected fractures and pores.It can be used to identify fluid and effective fractures(fluid-saturated)by using azimuthal seismic data via anisotropic dispersion properties.In this paper,based on Rüger’s equation,we derived an analytical expression in the frequency domain for the frequencydependent AVOAz inversion in terms of fracture orientation,dispersion gradient of isotropic background rock,anisotropic dispersion gradient,and the dispersion at a normal incident angle.The frequency-dependent AVOAz equation utilizes azimuthal seismic data and considers the effect of both isotropic and anisotropic dispersion.Reassigned Gabor Transform(RGT)is used to achieve highresolution frequency division data.We then propose the frequency-dependent AVOAz inversion method to identify fluid and characterize effective fractures in fractured porous reservoirs.Through application to high-qualified seismic data of dolomite and carbonate reservoirs,the results show that the method is useful for identifying fluid and effective fractures in fluid-saturated fractured rocks.

Fluid discrimination incorporating viscoelasticity and frequency-dependent amplitude variation with offsets inversion

Frequency-dependent amplitude versus offset(FAVO)inversion is a popular method to estimate the frequency-dependent elastic parameters by using amplitude and frequency information of pre-stack seismic data to guide fluid identification.Current frequency-dependent AVO inversion methods are mainly based on elastic theory without the consideration of the viscoelasticity of oil/gas.A fluid discrimination approach is proposed in this study by incorporating the viscoelasticity and relevant FAVO inversion.Based on viscoelastic and rock physics theories,a frequency-dependent viscoelastic solid-liquid decoupling fluid factor is initially constructed,and its sensitivity in fluid discrimination is compared with other conventional fluid factors.Furthermore,a novel reflectivity equation is derived in terms of the viscoelastic solid-liquid decoupling fluid factor.Due to the introduction of viscoelastic theory,the proposed reflectivity is related to frequency,which is more widely applicable than the traditional elastic reflectivity equation directly derived from the elastic reflectivity equation on frequency.Finally,a pragmatic frequency-dependent inversion method is introduced to verify the feasibility of the equation for frequency-dependent viscoelastic solid-liquid decoupling fluid factor prediction.Synthetic and field data examples demonstrate the feasibility and stability of the proposed approach in fluid discrimination.

Converted wave AVO inversion for average velocity ratio and shear wave reflection coefficient

Based on the empirical Gardner equation describing the relationship between density and compressional wave velocity, the converted wave reflection coefficient extrema attributes for AVO analysis are proposed and the relations between the extrema position and amplitude, average velocity ratio across the interface, and shear wave reflection coefficient are derived. The extrema position is a monotonically decreasing function of average velocity ratio, and the extrema amplitude is a function of average velocity ratio and shear wave reflection coefficient. For theoretical models, the average velocity ratio and shear wave reflection coefficient are inverted from the extrema position and amplitude obtained from fitting a power function to converted wave AVO curves. Shear wave reflection coefficient sections have clearer physical meaning than conventional converted wave stacked sections and establish the theoretical foundation for geological structural interpretation and event correlation. ＂The method of inverting average velocity ratio and shear wave reflection coefficient from the extrema position and amplitude obtained from fitting a power function is applied to real CCP gathers. The inverted average velocity ratios are consistent with those computed from compressional and shear wave well logs.

AVO approximation for PS-wave and its application in PP/PS joint inversion

Multi-component exploration has many advantages over ordinary P-wave exploration. PP/PS joint AVO analysis and inversion are useful and powerful methods to discriminate between reservoir and non-productive lithology. In this paper, we derive a new PS-wave reflection coefficient approximation equation which is more accurate at larger incidence angles. The equation is simplified for small incidence angles, which makes AVO analysis clearer and easier for angles less than 30 degrees. Based on this approximation, a PP/PS joint inversion is introduced. A real data example shows that oil sands, brine sands and shales can be differentiated based on the P- to S-wave velocity ratio from the PP/PS joint inversion. Fluid factors and Poisson＇s ratio also indicate an anomaly in the target zone at the oil well location.

Rock physics and seismic reflectivity parameterization and amplitude variation with offsets inversion in terms of total organic carbon indicator

Total organic carbon (TOC) prediction with elastic parameter inversions has been widely used in the identification and evaluation of source rocks. However, the elastic parameters used to predict TOC are not only determined by TOC but also depend on the other physical properties of source rocks. Besides, the TOC prediction with the elastic parameters inversion is an indirect method based on the statistical relationship obtained from well logs and experiment data. Therefore, we propose a rock physics model and define a TOC indicator mainly affected by TOC to predict TOC directly. The proposed rock physics model makes the equivalent elastic moduli of source rocks parameterized by the TOC indicator. Combining the equivalent elastic moduli of source rocks and Gray’s approximation leads to a novel linearized approximation of the P-wave reflection coefficient incorporating the TOC indicator. Model examples illustrate that the novel reflectivity approximation well agrees with the exact Zoeppritz equation until incident angles reach 40°. Convoluting the novel P-wave reflection approximation with seismic wavelets as the forward solver, an AVO inversion method based on the Bayesian theory is proposed to invert the TOC indicator with seismic data. The synthetic examples and field tests validate the feasibility and stability of the proposed AVO inversion approach. Using the inversion results of the TOC indicator, TOC is directly and accurately estimated in the target area.

Cauchy prior distribution-based AVO elastic parameter estimation via weakly nonlinear waveform inversion

Cauchy priori distribution-based Bayesian AVO reflectivity inversion may lead to sparse estimates that are sensitive to large reflectivities. For the inversion, the computation of the covariance matrix and regularized terms requires prior estimation of model parameters, which makes the iterative inversion weakly nonlinear. At the same time, the relations among the model parameters are assumed linear. Furthermore, the reflectivities, the results of the inversion, or the elastic parameters with cumulative error recovered by integrating reflectivities are not well suited for detecting hydrocarbons and fuids. In contrast, in Bayesian linear AVO inversion, the elastic parameters can be directly extracted from prestack seismic data without linear assumptions for the model parameters. Considering the advantages of the abovementioned methods, the Bayesian AVO reflectivity inversion process is modified and Cauchy distribution is explored as a prior probability distribution and the time-variant covariance is also considered. Finally, we propose a new method for the weakly nonlinear AVO waveform inversion. Furthermore, the linear assumptions are abandoned and elastic parameters, such as P-wave velocity, S-wave velocity, and density, can be directly recovered from seismic data especially for interfaces with large reflectivities. Numerical analysis demonstrates that all the elastic parameters can be estimated from prestack seismic data even when the signal-to-noise ratio of the seismic data is low.

Nonlinear joint PP-PS AVO inversion based on improved Bayesian inference and LSSVM

Multiwave seismic technology promotes the application of joint PP–PS amplitude versus offset (AVO) inversion;however conventional joint PP–PS AVO inversioan is linear based on approximations of the Zoeppritz equations for multiple iterations. Therefore the inversion results of P-wave, S-wave velocity and density exhibit low precision in the faroffset;thus, the joint PP–PS AVO inversion is nonlinear. Herein, we propose a nonlinear joint inversion method based on exact Zoeppritz equations that combines improved Bayesian inference and a least squares support vector machine (LSSVM) to solve the nonlinear inversion problem. The initial parameters of Bayesian inference are optimized via particle swarm optimization (PSO). In improved Bayesian inference, the optimal parameter of the LSSVM is obtained by maximizing the posterior probability of the hyperparameters, thus improving the learning and generalization abilities of LSSVM. Then, an optimal nonlinear LSSVM model that defi nes the relationship between seismic refl ection amplitude and elastic parameters is established to improve the precision of the joint PP–PS AVO inversion. Further, the nonlinear problem of joint inversion can be solved through a single training of the nonlinear inversion model. The results of the synthetic data suggest that the precision of the estimated parameters is higher than that obtained via Bayesian linear inversion with PP-wave data and via approximations of the Zoeppritz equations. In addition, results using synthetic data with added noise show that the proposed method has superior anti-noising properties. Real-world application shows the feasibility and superiority of the proposed method, as compared with Bayesian linear inversion.

AVO inversion based on common shot migration

Conventional AVO inversion utilizes the trace amplitudes of CMP gathers. There are three main factors affecting the accuracy of the inversion. First, CMP gathers are based on the hypothesis of horizontal layers but most real layers are not horizontal. Greater layer dip results in a greater difference between the observed CMP gathers and their real location. Second, conventional processing flows such as NMO, DMO, and deconvolution will distort amplitudes. Third, the formulation of reflection coefficient is related to incidence angles and it is difficult to get the relationship between amplitude and incidence angle. Wave equation prestack depth migration has the ability of imaging complex media and steeply dipping layers. It can reduce the errors of conventional processing and move amplitudes back to their real location. With true amplitude migration, common angle gathers abstraction, and AVO inversion, we suggest a method of AVO inversion from common shot gathers in order to reduce the effect of the above factors and improve the accuracy of AVO inversion.

Joint PP and PS AVO inversion based on Zoeppritz equations

Considering Zoeppritz equations, reflections of PP and PS are only the function of ratios of density and velocity. So the inversion results will be the same if the ratios are the same but values of density, velocities of P- wave and S-wave are different without strict constraint. This paper makes efforts to explore nonlinear simultaneous PP and PS inversion with expectation to reduce the ambiguity of AVO analysis by utilizing the redundancy of multi-component AVO measurements. Accurate estimation of ratio parameters depends on independence of input data. There are only two independent AVO attributes for PP reflectivity （i.e. intercept and gradient） and two for PS reflectivity （i.e. pseudo-intercept and pseudo-gradient or extreme amplitude）, respectively. For individual PP and PS inversion, the values of least-squares objective function do not converge around a large neighborhood of chosen true model parameters. Fortunately for joint PP and PS inversion the values of the least-squares objective function show closed contours with single minima. Finally the power function fitting is used to provide a higher precision AVO attributes than traditional polynomial fitting. By using the four independent fitting attributes （two independent attributes for PP and PS respectively）, the inversion of four ratio parameters （velocities and densities） would be estimated with less errors than that in traditional method.

Seismic AVO statistical inversion incorporating poroelasticity

Seismic amplitude variation with offset(AVO) inversion is an important approach for quantitative prediction of rock elasticity,lithology and fluid properties.With Biot-Gassmann's poroelasticity,an improved statistical AVO inversion approach is proposed.To distinguish the influence of rock porosity and pore fluid modulus on AVO reflection coefficients,the AVO equation of reflection coefficients parameterized by porosity,rock-matrix moduli,density and fluid modulus is initially derived from Gassmann equation and critical porosity model.From the analysis of the influences of model parameters on the proposed AVO equation,rock porosity has the greatest influences,followed by rock-matrix moduli and density,and fluid modulus has the least influences among these model parameters.Furthermore,a statistical AVO stepwise inversion method is implemented to the simultaneous estimation of rock porosity,rock-matrix modulus,density and fluid modulus.Besides,the Laplace probability model and differential evolution,Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm is utilized for the stochastic simulation within Bayesian framework.Models and field data examples demonstrate that the simultaneous optimizations of multiple Markov chains can achieve the efficient simulation of the posterior probability density distribution of model parameters,which is helpful for the uncertainty analysis of the inversion and sets a theoretical fundament for reservoir characterization and fluid discrimination.

Joint AVO inversion in the time and frequency domain with Bayesian interference

Amplitude variations with offset or incident angle （AVO/AVA） inversion are typically combined with statistical methods, such as Bayesian inference or deterministic inversion. We propose a joint elastic inversion method in the time and frequency domain based on Bayesian inversion theory to improve the resolution of the estimated P- and S-wave velocities and density. We initially construct the objective function using Bayesian inference by combining seismic data in the time and frequency domain. We use Cauchy and Gaussian probability distribution density functions to obtain the prior information for the model parameters and the likelihood function, respectively. We estimate the elastic parameters by solving the initial objective function with added model constraints to improve the inversion robustness. The results of the synthetic data suggest that the frequency spectra of the estimated parameters are wider than those obtained with conventional elastic inversion in the time domain. In addition, the proposed inversion approach offers stronger antinoising compared to the inversion approach in the frequency domain. Furthermore, results from synthetic examples with added Gaussian noise demonstrate the robustness of the proposed approach. From the real data, we infer that more model parameter details can be reproduced with the proposed joint elastic inversion.

Multiwave Amplitude Compensation and Its SensitivityAnalysis to AVO Inversion in Viscoelastic Media

We derive formulae of correction for multi-wave geometric spreading and absorption in layered viscoelastic media, this provides the theoretical foundation for true amplitude compensation of field data and for our sensitivity analysis. The imaging matrix at a plane reflector between viscoelastic media can be determined in the frequency domain using linearized reflection coefficients through Born approximation. We quantitatively analyze the sensitivity by studying eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the imaging matrix. The results show that two linear combinations of petrophysical parameters can be determined from the multi-wave AVO inversion in the case of amplitude compensation. Multi-wave AVO contains the information of attenuation in the media. However, the sensitivity of multi-wave AVO inversion to attenuation is small.

Quantification of Reservoir Fluid Prediction Uncertainty Using AVO Fluid Inversion (AFI)

The AVO fluid inversion (AFI) technique was used to assess for fluids at the target levels of OPL-X in the deepwater Niger Delta, Nigeria. In this study, attempt is made to get a quantitative probability estimate of the possible reservoir fluids in both the shallow and deeper target levels. This was achieved through the development of a stochastic AVO model and an inversion to probability of different fluids using the Bayesian approach. AVO Fluid Inversion (AFI) technique provides a robust and inexpensive method for identifying potential hydrocarbon-filled reservoirs and provides a quantitative estimates of the uncertainties inherent in the prediction.

Model-data-driven AVO inversion method based on multiple objective functions

The model-driven inversion method and data-driven prediction method are eff ective to obtain velocity and density from seismic data.The former necessitates initial models and cannot provide high-resolution inverted parameters because it primarily employs medium-frequency information from seismic data.The latter can predict parameters with high resolution,but it require a signifi cant number of accurate training samples,which are typically in limited supply.To solve the problems mentioned for these two methods,we propose a model-data-driven AVO inversion method based on multiple objective functions.The proposed method implements network training,network optimization,and network inversion by using three independent objective functions.Tests on synthetic and fi eld data show that the proposed method can invert high-accuracy and high-resolution velocity and density with a few training samples.

Pre-stack AVO inversion with adaptive edge preserving smooth filter regularization based on Aki-Richard approximation

With the development of exploration of oil and gas resources,the requirements for seismic inversion results are getting more accurate.In particular,it is hoped that the distribution patterns of oil and gas reservoirs can be finely characterized,and the seismic inversion results can clearly characterize the location of stratigraphic boundaries and meet the needs of accurate geological description.Specifically,for pre-stack AVO inversion,it is required to be able to distinguish smaller geological targets in the depth or time domain,and clearly depict the vertical boundaries of the geological objects.In response to the above requirements,we introduce the preprocessing regularization of the adaptive edge-preserving smooth filter into the pre-stack AVO elastic parameter inversion to clearly invert the position of layer boundary and improve the accuracy of the inversion results.

Nonlinear amplitude inversion using a hybrid quantum genetic algorithm and the exact zoeppritz equation

The amplitude versus offset/angle(AVO/AVA)inversion which recovers elastic properties of subsurface media is an essential tool in oil and gas exploration.In general,the exact Zoeppritz equation has a relatively high accuracy in modelling the reflection coefficients.However,amplitude inversion based on it is highly nonlinear,thus,requires nonlinear inversion techniques like the genetic algorithm(GA)which has been widely applied in seismology.The quantum genetic algorithm(QGA)is a variant of the GA that enjoys the advantages of quantum computing,such as qubits and superposition of states.It,however,suffers from limitations in the areas of convergence rate and escaping local minima.To address these shortcomings,in this study,we propose a hybrid quantum genetic algorithm(HQGA)that combines a self-adaptive rotating strategy,and operations of quantum mutation and catastrophe.While the selfadaptive rotating strategy improves the flexibility and efficiency of a quantum rotating gate,the operations of quantum mutation and catastrophe enhance the local and global search abilities,respectively.Using the exact Zoeppritz equation,the HQGA was applied to both synthetic and field seismic data inversion and the results were compared to those of the GA and QGA.A number of the synthetic tests show that the HQGA requires fewer searches to converge to the global solution and the inversion results have generally higher accuracy.The application to field data reveals a good agreement between the inverted parameters and real logs.

叠前AVO反演技术在塔河油田三种类型油气藏流体识别中的适用性分析

塔河油田奥陶系油气藏储层非均质性极强,烃源岩长期生排烃、多期充注成藏及混合改造,导致油气性质变化大,给流体识别带来巨大挑战。通过模型正演,分析缝洞型储层厚度、孔隙度、含流体性质对AVO特征的影响,明确气藏、轻质油藏、重质油藏三种不同类型油气藏的AVO特征及敏感参数;在此基础上,开展叠前反演,获得地下不同流体纵波阻抗及纵横波速度比特征,然后基于实际测井数据,建立三种不同类型油气藏岩石物理量版,在岩石物理量版指导下,利用双参数进行流体概率分析,获得缝洞储层流体定量识别结果。对塔河A区(气藏)、B区(轻质油藏)和C区(重质油藏),各50 km 2三维地震资料开展基于叠前AVO反演的流体识别应用研究,将识别结果用于盲井检验,气藏识别符合率为80%,轻质油藏符合率为76%,重质油藏符合率为72%。研究结果为塔河碳酸盐岩储层流体识别提供了参考依据。