Prediction of reservoir properties of the N-sand, vermilion block 50, Gulf of Mexico, from multivariate seismic attributes

The quantitative estimation of reservoir properties directly from seismic data is a major goal of reservoir characterization. Integrated reservoir characterization makes use of different varieties of well and seismic data to construct detailed spatial estimates of petrophysical and fluid reservoir properties. The advantage of data integration is the generation of consistent and accurate reservoir models that can be used for reservoir optimization, management and development. This is particularly valuable in mature field settings where hydrocarbons are known to exist but their exact location, pay, lateral variations and other properties are poorly defined. Recent approaches of reservoir characterization make use of individual seismic attributes to estimate inter-well reservoir properties. However, these attributes share a considerable amount of information among them and can lead to spurious correlations. An alternative approach is to evaluate reservoir properties using multiple seismic attributes. This study reports the results of an investigation of the use of multivariate seismic attributes to predict lateral reservoir properties of gross thickness, net thickness, gross effective porosity, net-to-gross ratio and net reservoir porosity thickness product. This approach uses principal component analysis and principal factor analysis to transform eighteen relatively correlated original seismic attributes into a set of mutually orthogonal or independent PC??s and PF??s which are designated as multivariate seismic attributes. Data from the N-sand interval of Vermilion Block 50 field, Gulf of Mexico, was used in this study. Multivariate analyses produced eighteen PC??s and three PF??s grid maps. A collocated cokriging geostaistical technique was used to estimate the spatial distribution of reservoir properties of eighteen wells penetrating the N-sand interval. Reservoir property maps generated by using multivariate seismic attributes yield highly accurate predictions of reservoir properties when compared to predictions produced with original individual seismic attributes. To the contrary of the original seismic attribute results, predicted reservoir properties of the multivariate seismic attributes honor the lateral geological heterogeneities imbedded within seismic data and strongly maintain the proposed geological model of the N-sand interval. Results suggest that multivariate seismic attribute technique can be used to predict various reservoir properties and can be applied to a wide variety of geological and geophysical settings.