Supervised machine learning application of lithofacies classification for a hydrodynamically complex gas - condensate reservoir in Nam Con Son basin

Abstract

Conventional integration of rock physics and seismic inversion can quantitatively evaluate and contrast reservoir properties. However, the available output attributes are occasionally not a perfect indicator for specific information such as lithology or fluid saturation due to technology constraints. Each attribute commonly exhibits a combination of geological characteristics that could lead to subjective interpretations and provides only qualitative results. Meanwhile, machine learning (ML) is emerging as an independent interpreter to synthesise all parameters simultaneously, mitigate the uncertainty of biased cut-off, and objectively classify lithofacies on the accuracy scale.
 In this paper, multiple classification algorithms including support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), decision tree (DT), K-nearest neighbours (KNN), logistic regression, Gaussian, Bernoulli, multinomial Naïve Bayes, and linear discriminant analysis were executed on the seismic attributes for lithofacies prediction. Initially, all data points of five seismic attributes of acoustic impedance, Lambda-Rho, Mu-Rho, density (ρ), and compressional wave to shear wave velocity (VpVs) within 25-metre radius and 25-metre interval offset top and base of reservoir were orbitally extracted on 4 wells to create the datasets. Cross-validation and grid search were also implemented on the best four algorithms to optimise the hyper-parameters for each algorithm and avoid overfitting during training. Finally, confusion matrix and accuracy scores were exploited to determine the ultimate model for discrete lithofacies prediction. The machine learning models were applied to predict lithofacies for a complex reservoir in an area of 163 km2.
 From the perspective of classification, the random forest method achieved the highest accuracy score of 0.907 compared to support vector machine (0.896), K-nearest neighbours (0.895), and decision tree (0.892). At well locations, the correlation factor was excellent with 0.88 for random forest results versus sand thickness. In terms of sand and shale distribution, the machine learning outputs demonstrated geologically reasonable results, even in undrilled regions and reservoir boundary areas.