Integrating seismic attributes to estimate transport properties of dual porosity reservoir rocks

Abstract

The productivity of porous and fractured reservoir rocks depends heavily on the total permeability of the reservoir. Here we distinguish between matrix permeability, fracture permeability, and a ‘boundary permeability’ controlling pore fluid exchange between fractures and matrix pores. Seismic data are capable of tracking variations of the second and third types of permeability: fracture permeability is indicated by mapping fracture swarms; and boundary permeability is indicated by the dynamic properties of P-waves. To implement these capabilities, two groups of seismic attributes are proposed here. The group of attributes for mapping fracture swarms is traditional, whereas the group of attributes responding to variations of the boundary permeability has only been introduced recently. Permeability substitution modelling is done before using attributes of the second group. Application to an oil field with a tight, fractured carbonate reservoir in the Timan-Pechora province, Russia, enabled us to group the fracture-controlling faults into three categories having distinct multi-attribute patterns and diverse transport properties defined by specific combinations of fracture and boundary permeabilities.