Resolving Prospective Pay Zones Through Interpretation and Simultaneous Inversion of Spectrally-Broadened Seismic Data

Abstract

Detecting and mapping the lateral continuity of reservoir quality Olmos sands in South Texas is limited by the fact that prospective pay zones are commonly below conventional seismic resolution. The incorporation of high-resolution seismic data addresses the lack of enough vertical resolution to image thin beds within the Olmos productive zone. This high-resolution seismic data results from the application of the sparse-layer inversion method to the original pre-stack seismic data, which allows the detection and resolution of thin beds below tuning thickness. This paper describes how high-resolution seismic data allowed the identification of additional reflectors in the Olmos productive zone that were below seismic resolution on the original data.