Faulted seismic horizon mapping
AssigneeLandmark Graphics Corporation
InventorsDaniel James Possee, Graham Baines
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed herein are embodiments of a method, a non-transitory computer readable medium, and an apparatus for faulted seismic horizon mapping. In one example, a method comprises: obtaining seismic data for a seismic volume that corresponds to a subsurface formation; generating a map of at least one horizon in the subsurface formation based on the seismic volume; identifying at least one fault intersecting the at least one horizon; determining a throw of the at least one fault; and updating the map of the at least one horizon to incorporate the at least one fault based on the throw of the at least one fault.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- obtaining, via one or more seismic sensors, seismic data for a seismic volume that corresponds to a subsurface formation;
- generating a model of at least one horizon in the subsurface formation based on the seismic data for the seismic volume;
- identifying at least one fault intersecting the at least one horizon;
- determining an estimated throw of the at least one fault;
- iteratively updating the model of the at least one horizon to incorporate the at least one fault as a part of the model by substituting equations solving for points on a surface of the horizon that lie on either side of the fault, based on the estimated throw of the at least one fault and an update of the estimated throw of the at least one fault, until a convergence criterion is satisfied;
- and
- performing at least one downhole operation for recovery of hydrocarbons based on the updated model of the at least one horizon, wherein the at least one operation for the recovery of hydrocarbons is one of completion of a wellbore, updating drilling operations, perforating, fracking, logging operations, and additional sampling of the subsurface formation, and wherein updating drilling operations includes changing a drilling operation, a perforating operation, or a fracking operation.
A non-transitory, machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by a processor to perform seismic data processing operations comprising:
- obtaining, via one or more seismic sensors, seismic data for a seismic volume that corresponds to a subsurface formation;
- generating a model of at least one horizon in the subsurface formation based on the seismic data for the seismic volume;
- identifying at least one fault intersecting the at least one horizon;
- determining an estimated throw of the at least one fault;
- iteratively updating the model of the at least one horizon to incorporate the at least one fault as part of the model by substituting equations solving for points on a surface of the horizon that lie on either side of the fault, based on the estimated throw of the at least one fault and an update of the estimated throw of the at least one fault, until a convergence criterion is satisfied;
- and
- performing an operation for recovery of hydrocarbons based on the updated model of the at least one horizon, wherein the operation for the recovery of hydrocarbons is one of completion of a wellbore, updating drilling operations, perforating, fracking, logging operations, and additional sampling of the subsurface formation, and wherein updating drilling operations includes changing a drilling operation, a perforating operation, or a fracking operation.
An apparatus for performing seismic data processing comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by the processor to cause the processor to:
- obtain, via one or more seismic sensors, seismic data for a seismic volume that corresponds to a subsurface formation;
- generate a model of at least one horizon in the subsurface formation based on the seismic data for the seismic volume;
- identify at least one fault intersecting the at least one horizon;
- determine an estimated throw of the at least one fault;
- iteratively update the model of the at least one horizon to incorporate the at least one fault as part of the model by substituting equations solving for points on a surface of the horizon that lie on either side of the fault, based on the estimated throw of the at least one fault and an update of the estimated throw of the at least one fault, until a convergence criterion is satisfied;
- and
- direct a drilling tool to perform an operation for recovery of hydrocarbons based on the updated model of the at least one horizon, wherein the operation for the recovery of hydrocarbons is one of completion of a wellbore, updating drilling operations, perforating, fracking, logging operations, and additional sampling of the subsurface formation, and wherein updating drilling operations includes changing a drilling operation, a perforating operation, or a fracking operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.