Petroleum exploration and prediction apparatus and method

A method comprising:

• providing a first signal corresponding to a first geological formation tapped by a hydrocarbon well producing hydrocarbons above a threshold rate;
• providing a second signal corresponding to a second geological formation tapped by a hydrocarbon well producing hydrocarbons below the threshold rate;
• expanding the first and second signal segments in at least one of frequency space and time space by applying at least one feature operator to the first and second signal segments to generate a plurality of first feature segments corresponding to the first signal segment and a plurality of second feature segments corresponding to the second signal segment;
• weighting the pluralities of first and second feature segments by applying a weight table to the pluralities of first and second feature segments to generate a weighted plurality of first feature segments and a weighted plurality of second feature segments, respectively;
• superimposing the weighted plurality of first feature segments to form a first feature comprising a non-random first pattern and the weighted plurality of second feature segments to form a second feature having a second pattern distinct from the non-random first pattern;
• and
• generating a separation key listing the at least one feature operator used to expand the first and second signal segments and the weighting table applied to the pluralities of first and second feature segments.

A method for predicting the presence of extractable hydrocarbons in a geological formation, the method comprising:

• providing a separation key effective to extract a first feature from signal collected from a first geological formation tapped by a hydrocarbon well producing above a threshold rate and a second feature from signal collected from a second geological formation tapped by a hydrocarbon well producing below the threshold rate, the separation key listing at least one feature operator and a weighting table;
• providing a test signal collected from a third geological formation;
• applying the at least one feature operator to expand the test signal in at least one of frequency space and time space to generate a plurality of feature segments;
• generating a weighted plurality of feature segments by applying the weighting table to the plurality of feature segments;
• superimposing the weighted plurality of feature segments to generate a third feature;
• and
• classifying the third geological formation as one of producing hydrocarbons above the threshold rate and producing hydrocarbons below the threshold rate based on the correspondence of the third feature to one of the first feature and second feature.