AVO, Attributes, and Inversion

Course Duration: 5 days, including lecture-based modules and hands-on exercises

Who Should Attend: Geologists, Geophysicists, Petrophysicists, Reservoir Engineers, and Exploration/Production Managers

Training Level: Intermediate (participants are recommended to have had prior training or experience in basic seismic interpretation)

Course Summary:  This course provides an understanding of the evolving role of seismic petrophysics through the use of amplitude variations with offset or angle (AVO/AVA), attributes, and inversion techniques. Understanding rock physics and the behavior of the propagating seismic waves represents an integral part of the course, especially in the context of specific applications including enhanced seismic interpretation, rock and fluid characterization, including hydrocarbon identification and quantification, fracture identification, and stress/geomechanical analysis. Course concepts are enhanced by numerous practical exercises and case studies.

You Will Learn:

·      The fundamentals of seismic wave propagation and specific attributes of seismic measurements toward enhanced interpretation and petrophysics;

·       The benefits and cons of various attributes in various facets of investigation, including stratigraphy/sedimentology, structural geology and geomechanics, and seismic petrophysics;

·      How to determine elastic properties from AVO/AVA analysis for fluid and lithologic discrimination and geomechanical/stress analysis; 

·       The techniques of seismic inversion, including well log integration, and property extraction in the prestack and poststack domains; and

·      The role of seismic attribute analysis and related techniques in understanding risk elements from exploration, drilling and completion, and development stages.

Course Outline:

Day 1: 

·      Introductory Exercises

o  Interpretation Exercises

·      Review of the Seismic Process

o  Review of seismic fundamentals, including rock physics and aspects of propagating seismic waves

Day 2: 

·      General Seismic Interpretation

o  Review of seismic interpretation techniques

·      Seismic Attributes

o  Seismic attribute analysis, including discussion of various attribute types and multi-attribute analysis. 

Day 3:

·      Enhanced Sedimentologic/Stratigraphic Interpretation from Seismic Attributes

o  Extracting more information of the sedimentologic/stratigraphic system, including wavelet versus layers, seismic geomorphology, intraformational variations and facies analysis, and 3D Wheeler diagrams.

·      Enhanced Fault Interpretation from Seismic Attributes

o  Extracting more fault information from seismic data by understanding and utilizing specific attributes for enhancing structural interpretations, from regional studies to role in reservoir characterization, including timing and geometry, seal characteristics, etc.

Day 4:

·      AVO Analysis

o  An in-depth investigation into amplitude versus offset (angle) analysis, including fundamental principles, applications, and pitfalls.

·      Borehole Seismology

o  Borehole seismic measurements and techniques, and integration into the seismic
petrophysical investigations

Day 5:

·      Seismic Inversion

o  Examination of techniques and benefits of seismic inversion, including prestack (elastic) versus poststack inversion, deterministic versus stochastic (probabilistic) inversion, and resultant products, including extraction of physical rock and fluid properties.

·      Seismic Anisotropy Analysis

o  Fracture ID—Seismic anisotropy analysis and fracture mapping from seismic data, and integration with other datasets, such as image log and core data. 

o  Stress Analysis from Seismic Data—Extraction of stress data for prospect seal risking, wellbore stability investigations, and reservoir behavior during production.

 Case Studies and Exercises

o  Numerous hands-on exercises and case study discussions are dispersed throughout the course to enhance understanding of key concepts and topics.