Discrete wavelet transform-based multiresolution analysis and spectral enhancement to characterize heavy oil reservoirs in the southern Gulf of Mexico region

Abstract

In Neogene geologic settings, seismic resolution plays an important role in the static characterization of large stratigraphically complex reservoirs. Attenuation of high frequencies due to absorption and scattering of waves propagating through the subsurface contributes to the loss of seismic resolution, resulting, in particular, to a poor delineation of thin beds. This case history comprised the resolution enhancement of seismic data from one petroleum field located in the southern Gulf of Mexico. We applied discrete wavelet transform-based multiresolution analysis to identify frequency components in the data that required spectral enhancement. The resulting enhanced power spectrum contains a higher frequency content, which made it possible to identify new heavy oil (11°–23° API) reservoirs located in thin sandstones of deltaic sedimentary environments. The methodology used here helped us to cope with the attenuation problem.