Geostatistical Seismic Inversion with Self-Updating of Local Probability Distributions

Abstract

Three-dimensional subsurface elastic models inverted from seismic reflection data are the basis of the geo-modeling workflow. These models are often used to predict the spatial distribution of reservoir rock properties such as porosity, volume of minerals and fluid saturations. Stochastic seismic inversion methods are important modeling tools, as they allow one to infer high-resolution subsurface models and assess uncertainties related to the spatial distribution of the inverted petro-elastic properties. Within this framework, iterative geostatistical seismic inversion methods use stochastic sequential simulation and co-simulation as a model generation and perturbation technique based on the mismatch between synthetic and real seismic data. This work proposes an alternative approach of iterative geostatistical seismic inversion based on the concept of self-updating of local probability distributions of the elastic property of interest to be inverted. The model perturbation is conditioned by local probability distribution functions, which are iteratively updated based on the data misfit at previous iterations. This approach allows for better exploration of the model parameter space, avoiding local fast convergence at early steps of the inversion, and wider exploration of the model parameter space. The method is applied to a two-dimensional nonstationary synthetic dataset and to a three-dimensional real case example with a blind well test.