Oil and gas prediction basing on seismic inversion of elastic properties in Chaoshan depression, south China sea

Abstract

The marine Mesozoic is widely distributed in the northeastern waters of the South China Sea and is an important field for oil-gas exploration in the South China Sea. The Chaoshan Depression is the largest residual depression in this sea. At a previous well, LF35-1-1, no oil and gas have been discovered with then pre-drilling prediction techniques. Post-drill analysis shows that the physical properties of the Mesozoic reservoir are not favorable there. So, in accurate prediction of the oil-gas reservoirs is necessary. Since the drilling at the LF35-1-1, extensive surveys and studies have been carried out which shows a number of favorable trapping structures. In the middle low bulge of the Chaoshan Depression, the DS-A structures found with potential reservoirs, complete trap structures, and dual source hydrocarbon supply on both sides, making it the most favorable zone for oil-gas accumulation. We apply the state of art prediction techniques for it using pre-stack seismic raw gather. The sensitivity analysis results of reservoir physical properties indicate that the difference in P- wave velocity between sand and mudstone is 500 m/s, the difference in density is 0.02 g/cm3, and the Poisson’s ratio ranges between 0.11 and 0.33. The Mesozoic sandstone reservoirs in the Chaoshan Depression have characteristics of high velocity and low Poisson’s ratio, and the P-wave velocity, density, and Poisson’s ratio are the main sensitive parameters for predicting reservoir and its oil-gas bearing properties. The density inversion, P-wave impedance inversion, and S-wave impedance inversion jointly characterize the “wedge-shaped” sand body in the DS-A structural area, with a maximum thickness of over 400 m and an area of ∼130 km2. The overlap of the sand body contour map and Poisson’s ratio inversion results indicates that the “wedge-shaped” sand body is an oil-gas bearing sand body. It can be concluded that pre-stack elastic parameter inversion is an effective method for reservoir prediction in deep-sea no-well exploration areas. It has the characteristics of high signal-to-noise ratio, strong stability and reliability, and high accuracy, which is conducive to reduce the non-uniqueness and uncertainty of seismic inversion. The inversion results predict that the DS-A structure is an oil-gas bearing structure.