The Challenge of Interpreting 3-D Seismic in Shaybah Field, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

ABSTRACT The giant Shaybah field, situated in the northeastern Rub’ Al-Khali Desert in Saudi Arabia, was discovered in 1968. 2-D seismic and well control were used at the time to delineate the field. A 3-D seismic program was launched in 1993 to develop a detailed geological picture of the field. Over 120 million seismic traces, covering an area of about 1,100 square kilometers, were acquired in flat sabkhas and high sand dunes. The dunes, exceeding 200 meters in height in places, posed a severe statics correction problem. Up to 200 milliseconds of time correction was sometimes applied to the seismic traces in order to compensate for sand-related statics. Also, as verified by vertical seismic profiles, the reservoir level was severely obscured by strong multiples. In addition to complex topography and multiples, the 3-D structural seismic interpretation had to overcome two further problems. First, the lithology of the gas-capped Shu’aiba reservoir consists predominantly of carbonates which are sealed by a denser, compacted shale. The decrease in density and increase in velocity, at the top of the Shu’aiba reservoir, result in a weak reflection. Second, the top of the Shu’aiba reservoir undulates as a result of rudist build-ups and therefore is not conformable with its base. For these reasons, the top of the Shu’aiba reservoir cannot be mapped as a “phantom” of the much better reflection from the base of the reservoir. To resolve the uncertainties described above, borehole seismic measurements (specifically offset and zero-offset vertical seismic profiles in vertical wells) were incorporated. These additional measurements provided the required calibration of the seismic, and hence the validation of the structural interpretation. These borehole surveys continue to serve as a reference for on-going efforts to further improve the data quality using more advanced processing techniques.