We-P02-14 Low-frequency Impedance Modeling Based on Well Logs and Seismic Attributes

Z. Zou* (BGP,CNPC), Y. Ling (BGP,CNPC), Y.J. Wang (BGP,CNPC), J. Gao (BGP,CNPC) & X.Y. Xi (BGP,CNPC)

SUMMARY
Low-frequency information is very critical in quantitatively predicting porosity, fluid content, and other reservoir properties, however, seismic data with bandwidth constraints lack low-frequency attributes. Compensation of low frequency is very important for obtaining absolute values of rock properties. Conventional low-frequency impedance (LFI) models are usually built by laterally interpolating and extrapolating impedance logs between well sites. This interpolation driven by the distance between wells and guided by interpreted horizons, often leads to artifacts and generation of non-geologic solutions. Velocity data partially provide the missing information in the lowest frequency range. In this paper, we apply the technique of multi-attribute linear regression to find the relationship between seismic attributes (such as interval velocity, relative impedance) and rock properties (acoustic impedance) from well logs. The relation is then used to predict low-frequency P-impedance away from well sites. Tests of the 2-D synthetic Marmousi2 dataset and 3-D field datasets show that this technique is able to obtain a reliable, low frequency, P-impedance model in areas with complex geological structure.

75th EAGE Conference & Exhibition incorporating SPE EUROPEC 2013 London, UK, 10-13 June 2013

Introduction Absolute acoustic impedance is related to reservoir properties, and is not only measured from well logs as well as in the laboratory, but also obtained by merging low-frequency P-impedance (from 0 Hz to 8 Hz) with band-limited impedances. Seismic data are frequency band-limited (containing limited frequency content, e.g., 8-120 Hz) and thus seismically inverted impedance is also bandlimited. The missing low-frequency part of the inverted impedance is generally obtained by lateral interpolation and extrapolation of impedance logs between well locations. This interpolation and extrapolation usually employ a variety of mathematical methods such as weighted inverse-distance, spline, and kriging, guided primarily by the distance between wells and using the interpreted seismic horizons to link the individual well logs. Thus, the traditional technique usually fails to capture lateral changes in geologic trend. Seismic velocity data can provide 0-2 Hz information of the missing lowfrequency spectrum. In this paper, using a linear regression method, we attempt to build the relationship between seismic attributes (including interval velocity) and P-impedance (high cut filtering) from well logs. This relation is then applied to the seismic data to acquire pseudo-well logs of impedance. Based on the low-frequency impedance model, we invert seismic data to gain the bandlimited impedance (relative impedance). The relative impedance can be considered as a useful seismic attribute for a better qualitative understanding of reservoir properties. Consequently, the new seismic attribute is used to update the LFI model through the linear regression method. Linear regression and neural network methods has been applied to predict rock properties such as porosity, GR, and SP log (e.g., Hampson et al., 2001; Leiphart and Hart, 2001; Banchs and Michelena, 2002; and Herrera et al., 2006). Using factorial kriging, Nivlet (2004) estimated an initial lowfrequency impedance model directly from NMO velocities. Cerney and Bertel (2007) discussed different interpolation methods including a well interpolation method guided by seismic velocities. Pedersen-Talavic et al. (2008) and Hansen et al. (2008) proposed an event-based LMI modeling method using well logs and seismic attributes. Xia et al. (2012) made use of relative inversion

results to guide the low-frequency modeling and applied the updated low-frequency model in pre-stack simultaneous inversion. Previous studies have shown that the use of seismic attributes
and seismic velocity to establish LFI models has good application prospects. Methods The workflow of the low-frequency P-impedance modeling is shown in Figure 1. Since velocity is able to provide 0~2 Hz frequency information to guide the LFI model building, we firstly acquire the initial impedance (LFI1) model by multiplying interval velocity with its corresponding density, based on Gardners equation. Combining seismic attributes (such as trace envelope, instantaneous phase, and instantaneous frequency) with the LFI1 model, we make use of the linear regression algorithm to establish the relationship between seismic attributes and P-impedance from well logs following lowpass filtering. Once the relationship has been built, it can be used to estimate a pseudo-well-log volume of impedance (LFI2) from the seismic volume. We check whether the LFI model is reliable. If the result does not seems reasonable, a relative inversion will be implemented to gain the relative impedance based on the LFI2 model. Relative impedance has an advantage over raw seismic data, in that it can be used as the new input data, used to update the low-frequency impedance model (LFI3) through the linear regression method. LFI3 should be suitable for impedance inversion and merged with relative impedance to get the final absolute impedance. The successful estimation of LFI depends on the following key issues (Banchs and Michelena, 2002): 1) The use of amplitude-preserved seismic data to avoid distorting the relationships between seismic data and well logs. 2) The availability of enough well-log data (at least 3 wells) to establish a reasonable relationship. 3) Accurate T-Z curves to perform depth-to-time conversion of well logs, which is a critical step of the procedure. 4) The selection of seismic attributes (such as relative impedance).
75th EAGE Conference & Exhibition incorporating SPE EUROPEC 2013 London, UK, 10-13 June 2013

Figure 1 Workflow for low-frequency impedance modeling based on seismic attributes. Examples Firstly, we test the Marmousi2 dataset. It is very difficult to build the initial model using distancebased interpolation of well logs. Figure 3a shows the initial LFI model acquired by multiplying interval velocity and its corresponding density based on Gardners equation. Five pseudo-wells (Figure 3a, red curves) are chosen for the LFI model building. From Figure 2a, the input data, including impedances from well logs after high-cut filtering, seismic data, and the initial LFI are shown. Based on the linear regression algorithm, a relationship is established at well sites. Figure 2b shows the results after applying the relationship to predict P-impedances at well sites. The predicted impedances (red) are very close to the original impedance logs (black). The entire LFI model predicted using seismic attributes is shown in Figure 3b. The results are very close to the true model. In particular, the complex fault zones and the zones far away from the wells are predicted accurately. The Marmousi2 test demonstrates that the multi-attribute linear regression method is effective in building an LFI model.

(a) (b) Figure 2 Marmousi2 dataset. (a)Input data , from left to right: impedance from well-log data (0-0-1015 Hz high cut filtering), seismic data, impedance (a product of velocity and density obtained using Gardners equation) at Well-1; (b) The predicted impedance logs (red) by multi-attribute linear regression, the black curves are referred to as original well log impedances. A 3-D field dataset from the South China Sea is used to test the method. The depth of the reservoir is 4000 m, the velocities vary laterally, and there are few wells in this district. Therefore, it is very difficult to build accurate LFI models using a distance-based well log interpolation method. Figure 4a shows the initial LFI1 multiplying interval velocity by density. The LFI2 predicted with multiattribute is shown in Figure 4b. After the calibration, the LFI2 model seems reasonable, not only at well sites, but also away from well locations. Figure 4c shows the contrast between the original impedance of well log (black curve) and predicted LFI3 (red curve) based on relative impedance. Figure 5a, 5c show the strata slice of the LFI model using distance-based interpolation of well logs with only two wells and all six wells respectively; the bulls eye phenomenon is clear at well sites. The unreasonable LFI model would affect the absolute impedances, as shown in Figure 5b and 5d, and the bulls eye at well sites still exists. The LFI model built using relative impedance attribute is

75th EAGE Conference & Exhibition incorporating SPE EUROPEC 2013 London, UK, 10-13 June 2013

shown in Figure 5e, and the corresponding absolute impedances are shown in Figure 5f. In contrast with Figure 5b, 5d, our results appear geologically more reliable.
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(a) (b) Low Figure 3 Marmousi2 dataset. (a) Low-frequency impedance (a product of interval velocity and density obtained using Gardners equation). (b) The predicted impedance by multi-attribute linear regression.

(b) (a) (c) Figure 4 Field dataset. (a) Low-frequency P-impedance (a product of seismic velocity and density). (b) The P-impedance predicted by multi-attribute linear regression. (c) The predicted impedance log (red) derived from this study, the black curve is referred to as original well log impedance (0-0-20-25 Hz high cut filtering).

Conclusions Based on multi-attribute linear regression, we present a low-frequency impedance model using seismic attributes and well logs. Compared with conventional methods of building low-frequency impedance models, which only use well log data interpolated and extrapolated along geologic horizons, our method does not depend on the interpreted horizons or faults. Moreover, the multiattribute linear regression method has the potential to describe the low-frequency model more accurately, and reduces uncertainties in the impedance inversion in geologically complex areas where few wells are available. More accurate seismic velocity and amplitude-preserved seismic data are beneficial to improve the accuracy of the low-frequency impedance model. Acknowledgements The authors would like to express their gratitude to BGP for financial support and permission to present this paper. We wish to thank the University of Houston for offering Marmousi2 syntheticmodel dataset. References Banchs, R.E. and Michelena, J.M. [2002] From 3D seismic attributes to pseudo-well-log volumes using neural networks: Practical considerations. The Leading Edge, 21(12), 996-1001. Herrera, V.M., Russell, B. and Flores, A. [2006] Neural networks in reservoir characterization. The Leading Edge, 25(4), 402-411. Cerney, B. and Bertel, D. [2007] Uncertainties in low-frequency acoustic impedance models. The Leading Edge, 74-87. Hampson, D.P., Schuelke, J.S. and Quirein, J.A. [2001] Use of multiattribute transforms to predict log properties from seismic data. Geophysics, 66(1), 220-236.
75th EAGE Conference & Exhibition incorporating SPE EUROPEC 2013 London, UK, 10-13 June 2013

Hansen, T.M., Mosegaard, K., Pedersen, R., Uldall, A. and Jacobsen, N.L. [2008] Attribute guided well log interpolation .applied to low frequency impedance estimation. Geophysics, 73(6), 83-95. Leiphart, D.J. and Hart, B. [2001] Comparison of linear regression and a probabilistic neural network to predict porosity from 3D seismic attributes in Lower Brushy Canyon channeled sandstones, southeast New Mexico. Geophysics, 66(5), 1349-1358. Nivlet, P. [2004] Low-frequency constrain in a priori model building or stratigraphic inversion.74th Annual International Meeting, SEG, Expanded Abstracts, 1802-1805. Pedersen-Talavic, R., Uldall, A., Jacobsen, N.L., Hansen, T.M. and Mosegaard, K. [2008] Event Based Low Frequency Impedance Modeling using Well Logs and Seismic Attributes. The Leading Edge, 5, 593-603. Xia, Q.L., Tian, L.X. and Zhou, D.H. [2012] Low frequency model building based on relative impedance inversion to improve the accuracy of pre-stack simultaneous inversion: a case study from R oilfield in Bohai Ray, China. 82th Annual International Meeting, SEG, Expanded Abstracts.

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Figure 5 The strata slice of (a) low-frequency impedance model built with only two-well distancebased interpolation; (c) low-frequency impedance model with all six-well distance-based interpolation; (b) absolute impedance based on the LFI model (shown in (a)); (d) absolute impedance based on the LFI model (shown in (c)); (e) low-frequency impedance model derived from this study; (f) absolute impedance based on the attribute-driven LFI model (shown in (e)).

75th EAGE Conference & Exhibition incorporating SPE EUROPEC 2013 London, UK, 10-13 June 2013