Seismic inversion

Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

Course Outline
General aspects of seismic inversion
ƒ Concept and purpose
ƒ Petrophysical basis
ƒ Data requirements
ƒ Overview of methods and basic inversion process

Poststack inversion – practical workflow

ƒ Data QC
ƒ Wavelet extraction
ƒ A priori model building
ƒ Inversion parameterization and QC of results

Prestack inversion – practical workflow

ƒ Data QC
ƒ Wavelet extraction
ƒ A priori model building
ƒ Inversion parameterization and QC of results

Advanced inversion techniques

ƒ Geostatistical inversion
ƒ Joint PP/PS inversion
ƒ 4D inversion

2 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Various inversion methods

Sparse Spike: algorithm to find an impedance model matching the seismic bandwith,
but with the smallest number of non zero reflectivities (limited number of
homogeneous layers)

Model-based: uses an initial low-frequency impedance model which is perturbed

Layer based: similar to model based, except that the model is layered and inverted
both for thicknesses of layers and impedances

Stochastic: multiple realizations of impedance models that can reproduce the seismic
amplitudes within a given error

These four can be post-stack (inversion of a full stack) or pre-stack (inversion of several
sub-stacks)

3 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Poststack inversion
35

Inversion of full stack or near

30
stack data
25 ƒ Quasi zero offset
Porosity %

20
Result: acoustic impedance
15
model

10
Often related to porosity
5

0
6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 11000 12000 13000 14000 15000 16000

Acoustic Impedance

4 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

Poststack inversion workflow

Data QC

Seismic to well tie and wavelet extraction

A-priori model building

Inversion parameterization

Interpretation of the inversion results

5 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

Required input data

Well logs: Vp, Vs, Rhob, Phie, caliper, GR, ….

Check-shots, VSP or T=f(depth)

Seismic data: full stack or near stack

Stacking or migration velocities

Smoothed seismic interpretation (horizons, faults)

Notions of depositional mode within units

Quality control of all input data is

paramount!

6 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Poststack inversion

Data QC
Wavelet extraction
A priori model building
Inversion parameterization and QC of
results

7 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

Seismic data: processing issues
Proper amplitude preserved processing with correct zero
phasing is necessary
ƒ Preservation of relative amplitude and phase information
ƒ Post-stack FK filter or strong spectral whitening can harm relative
amplitude information

Sufficient amplitude-preserving multiple attenuation

ƒ Inversion assumes that the seismic consists of primary reflections

Accurate NMO corrections necessary

Footprint removal required

Trace dependent operators have to be avoided

Strong lateral amplitude variations can be a problem

ƒ Difficulties with local attenuation, e.g. gas, hydrates, etc.

8 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

Type of stacking: full versus near
XL4420 Fullstack + TRITA TVDEF

S/N ratio: 9.9 - Freq: 8-49Hz

XL4420 Near Stack

S/N ratio: 10.2 - Freq: 6-51Hz

9 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008 Fig.9

 Amplitude balancing

Before balancing After balancing

10 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Poststack inversion

Data QC
Wavelet extraction
A priori model building
Inversion parameterization and QC of
results

11 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Seismic to well tie & wavelet extraction

Objectives
ƒ Tying the well log (depth) to the seismic data (time) such that acoustic
impedance contrasts of the log correspond to seismic markers
ƒ Extracting wavelet that, convolved with the impedance log, matches the
seismic

Search for best seismic / well tie location

Wavelet extraction at each well to determine:

ƒ Shape, amplitude spectrum
ƒ Phase / polarity, time shift

Multiwell wavelet extraction

ƒ Optimum wavelet for multiple wells

12 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Seismic to well tie

Search for best

Correlation location

Wavelet extraction and tie

13 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Multi-well approach: Beicip (Interwell)

W1
W2
W3
W4
W5
Amplitude of the wavelets

Multiwell variable
Phase optimum wavelet

14 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

Wavelet extraction & selection

Extraction window must be large enough (~ 5 x wavelet length),

but focused on the zone of interest

Amplitude of wavelets at different wells must be similar

Phase of wavelets at different wells must be within 30-40°

Reject wells with poor wavelets

Compute a multi-well wavelet from the best single wells

15 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Comparison of extracted mono-well wavelets
Well 1 Well 2 Well 3 Well 4

Cross-correlation
seismic /synthetic

Trough Amplitudes

100% 55% 250% 190%

Reasonably stable wavelet shape but strong amplitudes discrepancies

16 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

Influence of the amplitude wavelet on the AI
determination

wavelet Impedance Impedance

Seismic trace Reflectivity Log

17 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Quantitative influence of the amplitude wavelet on the
porosity determination

0.12
Upscaled Well Porosity

from mis-scaled seismic

12

AI Porosity estimates
0.10
10
10.9%
0.08 7.6% 8
7.6%
0.06
6
0.04
4
4.6%
0.02
2 Gain factor
0.00
10500 11500 12500 13500 14500 15500 16500 17500 0
Acoustic Impedance (g/cc*m/s) 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
)
nce
re
fe
Phie= - 2.448E-05*AcI + 0.407 re
a ry
Correlation 97.4% bitr
r
(a
Well 2 Well -1 Well-3
0.7 1.0 2.0
Assumption :
AI shale (11000) is kept constant Mis-scaled wavelets
only AI reservoir is mis-estimated because
seismic amplitudes have had a gain applied

18 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Impact of the wavelet shape and spectrum: resolution
Impedance after inversion, 40 iterations using extracted wavelet

Extracted

Impedance after inversion, 40 iterations using Ricker wavelet (central frequency 33HZ phase -22 deg)

__ Variable Phase wavelet extracted in InterWell

(used for Jan 2003 inversion)

__ Ricker 33 Hz phase - 22 deg RICKER

19 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Poststack inversion

Data QC
Wavelet extraction
A priori model building
Inversion parameterization and QC of
results

20 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Low Frequency (a-priori) model building
Objectives
ƒ Filling in the frequency part absent from the seismic data (0 to 10Hz)
ƒ Initial solution for some algorithms

Uses well data, horizons, seismic velocities, geology

Strong impact: Absolute impedance = Relative impedance (from

sesimic) + LF model

LF model

Well HR Seismic
Velocities Interp. inversion

21 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008 3Hz 10Hz

Frequency
 A priori model: why do we need low frequencies?
Initial AI model
with 0 - ∝ Hz
frequencies

Model filtered to
10 – 80 Hz
(spikes + offset+ side-lobes)

Model filtered to 10 – ∝Hz

The offset is related to the DC
component
The side lobes are due to the
lack of 1-10Hz freq.

Model filtered to 0 – 80 Hz
The little spikes are due to the
lack of high frequencies: minor impact

Courtesy P. Mesdag (Jason)

22 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

How the full inverted spectrum is built

Acoustic Impedance (g/cc x ft/s)

10000 30000
9000
Low frequency AI
20ms model(0-10Hz) A
m
Seismic + Low p
Frequency
D l
AI Model (0-60Hz)
e I Seismic
AI from Well
p t Bandwidth
(0-125Hz)
t u
h Trend (0-3Hz) d
(ft) Seis. velocities e
0 20 40 60 80
10000
Frequency (Hz)

Courtesy P. Mesdag (Jason)

23 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 A Priori model: structural & stratigraphic part

Input AI log

Input key
horizons

Correlation
Lines along
Stratigraphy
(// top, // bottom,
proportional)

24 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 A Priori model: importance of the stratigraphic mode
AI is extrapolated along stratigraphy
Input AI log

Proportional
Input key
horizons

Eroded
(// base)

Onlapping
// top

25 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 A Priori model: Acoustic impedance high cut 60Hz & 15Hz
AI
g/cm3.m/s

26 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 A-priori model building

Right number of horizons, covering the whole area to invert

In case of channel belts, the lateral extent of these has to be estimated in

order to avoid extrapolating sand impedance everywhere in the model

Good quality horizon picking: it will impact the inversion result

Faults make it more difficult

ƒ Only included if they are necessary

The velocity used has to be carefully edited and smoothed

Careful choice of the highest frequency of initial model

27 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Model building: horizons need to be smoothed
Artifacts in the inversion results related to the initial model

28 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Stacking velocity integration

Initial velocity field Ip run #1

Smoothed velocity field IP run #2

Fig. 2
29 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008
 Complex model building

P impedance trend model Shale trend model

Channel fill

30 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Final complex a priori model

Several steps: shale background (from shale only AI logs), AI vs depth

trend, channel sand bodies added.

31 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Poststack inversion

Data QC
Wavelet extraction
A priori model building
Inversion parameterization and QC of
results

32 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 QC of the inversion result at wells
Seismic/well tie LF model Abs. AI section Inverted AI Seis. Residual
+ well AI log + well AI log

33 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 QC of the inversion result: volume

Input seismic Inverted reflectivities

Seismic Residuals Absolute impedance

Residuals should not contain geological information
34 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008
 QC of a post-stack inversion result

Check there are no artifacts (ringing) due to a unadequate wavelet

Well-tie quality has to be kept in mind when QCing the results at wells

If possible, it is useful to check the results at blind wells

The residuals should only contain seismic noise and no geology

Reservoirs defined by specific AI bodies need to have a geological or

sedimentological sense (pre-existing geological model?)

Absolute impedance always has to be interpreted together with the

relative impedance

35 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Inversion outputs
Absolute Impedance

Relative Impedance

Always interpret the two volumes

36 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 QC of residuals

Inversion A Inversion B

37 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 QC: Inversion results at a blind well

HC 80Hz
filtered AI log
Contractor A
Inverted trace
Contractor B
Inverted trace

Ip Is Vp/Vs

38 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 QC of the impedances: various issues

Ringing Vertical striping

Artifact Vertical striping

39 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Interpretation
Average impedance at top reservoir

40 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Impedance – porosity cross plot

2 carbonate reservoirs present

In case of homogeneous lithologies (carbonate, tight sands) one petroelastic parameter

can be sufficient to derive one reservoir parameter: P impedance / Porosity

41 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008

 Porosity realisations from inverted impedances

Definition of pore volume probabilities with uncertainties

42 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008
 Summary – Quizz 2

What is the use of a wavelet in an inversion?

To deconvolve the seismic data

What are the key parameters of a wavelet determined in a well tie?

Amplitude spectrum, phase spectrum, time shift

Why do we need a LF model in an inversion?

To fill in the low end of the frequency spectrum, which is not present in
surface seismic data. It is needed to get sharp impedance contrasts.

What is needed to build a LF model?

Well logs, horizons, velocities

Mention at least 3 ways of QC’ing a post-stack inversion

AI wells / AI inverted, residuals, check impedance volume for artifacts

43 - Seismic inversion course, UPPA, 2008