Rock-physics diagnostics of a turbidite oil reservoir offshore northwest Australia

Abstract

Interpreting seismic data for petrophysical rock properties requires a rock-physics model that links the petrophysical rock properties to the elastic properties, such as velocity and impedance. Such a model can only be established from controlled experiments in which both groups of rock properties are measured on the same samples. A prolific source of such data is wellbore measurements. We use data from four wells drilled through a clastic offshore oil reservoir to perform rock-physics diagnostics, i.e., to find a theoretical rock-physics model that quantitatively explains the measurements. Using the model, we correct questionable well curves. Moreover, a crucial purpose of rock-physics diagnostics is to go beyond the settings represented in the wells and understand the seismic signatures of rock properties varying in a wider range via forward seismic modeling. With this goal in mind, we use our model to generate synthetic seismic gathers from perturbational modeling to address “what-if” scenarios not present in the wells.