Oil & Gas

From exploration to distribution

Week 2 V08 Exploration: Exploration : Seismic Imaging and
Hydrocarbon Discovery
Anne Jardin

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IFPEN - IFP School 2015 / TOTAL SA 2015 / IFP Training 2015

Introduction
In the previous chapter, we saw how to study the petroleum system to evaluate the
hydrocarbon potential of the basin.
In this sequence we'll see how the seismic method is applied to obtain subsurface images
and how exploration wells are drilled to check hydrocarbon discovery.
In the previous session, a petroleum system was defined as a set of geological and fluid
factors such as reservoir and traps, that make the accumulation of oil and gas possible.

Seismic Imaging
The basin is promising. Geologists have selected a zone for which they obtain mining rights
to begin the exploration.
Now geologists must more accurately investigate the potential reservoirs called prospect
and check the presence of hydrocarbons using seismic imaging and well drilling.
The seismic method is the most frequently applied geophysical method for petroleum
exploration studies.
The main objectives of seismic exploration are to obtain an image of the subsurface,
locate the prospects and propose well locations.

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IFPEN - IFP School 2015 / TOTAL SA 2015 / IFP Training 2015

To obtain a realistic image of the subsurface, the seismic workflow is usually developed in
three main steps: acquisition, processing and interpretation.

During the acquisition step, downgoing waves are generated by seismic sources located at
the surface.
The waves propagate through the subsurface and are reflected by reflectors, which are
interfaces separating two different geological formations, for example reservoir and seal.
After reflection, the upgoing reflected waves travel through geological formations until they
reach the surface where receivers record the vibrations.

In the case of land seismic acquisition, big trucks, called vibrators generate seismic energy
that propagates through the subsurface. See the below picture of five vibrators during a
seismic acquisition survey in the French Alps. The receivers, called geophones, record the
stress variations due to seismic vibrations.

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IFPEN - IFP School 2015 / TOTAL SA 2015 / IFP Training 2015

In the case of marine seismic acquisition, both sources and receivers are dragged behind
special vessels close to the sea surface.
Seismic energy is provided by air explosions in the water caused by air guns.
The pressure variations transmitted by the water are recorded by several lines of
hydrophone sets, what we call a spread.
This spread can be several kilometres long and several kilometres wide.

At this step, each seismic trace is a set of signal amplitudes ordered by recording times.
These times represent the successive travel times required by the seismic wave to travel
from one source to one receiver after successive reflections on deeply buried interfaces.

At the end of the acquisition survey, geophysicists have acquired a huge amount of data. It
can be several millions of seismic traces gathered by shot points. Recognizing geological
features directly from these data is really impossible.
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IFPEN - IFP School 2015 / TOTAL SA 2015 / IFP Training 2015

That is why geophysicists have developed seismic processing techniques to translate all
these seismic traces into 2D or 3D seismic images, with the aim of representing a realistic
subsurface geology.
Seismic image building is a long process from several days to several months which requires
efficient data management.
The first processing step is to stack all the
traces reaching the reflector at the same
point. It is done to improve the sharp
contrast on the picture.
Seismic reflections are usually displayed in
various colours enhancing the limits
between geological formations.
On this image below, a more obvious
geological texture is now more visible and
begin to mimic geological features.
After this stacking process, migration
processing is applied to eliminate the
distortion effects due to geological
structures. These anomalies are called
diffractions and are generated when the
seismic waves pass by the edge of an
obstacle such as faults and are deviated.
There is an improvement of the image in
the central yellow part.
Noise are removed and reflector
discontinuities generated by faults are more
visible.

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IFPEN - IFP School 2015 / TOTAL SA 2015 / IFP Training 2015

Until now, the vertical coordinates of these seismic images are always the two-way travel
times which are the times taken by the seismic waves to travel from the source to the
receiver.
Obviously time data cannot be used to locate the position of a reservoir.
We need to convert seismic data to another dimension.
This is done through time to depth conversion processing.
The conversion of seismic images from the time acquisition domain into the depth
interpretation domain is essential to continue the exploration process.
The geophysicist has now obtained the best seismic image ready to be interpreted by the
geologist. Firstly, the geologists identify and pick the main reflections which are the
interfaces separating two different geological formations.
Then the geologists identify the main faults which have broken sediments and have
interrupted the reflection continuity. Three main faults are clearly visible in the central part
of this seismic image. Identifying faults is really important because faults could serve as
hydrocarbon traps or be the cause of fluid leaks.

The result of seismic interpretation is a model describing the geology. On this image the
different types of sediments with specific velocity values are clearly visible. We distinguish
shallow parallel layers broken by faults in the upper part of the image and a large anticline in
the lower part of this image. A high velocity layer (shown in red) separates this upper part
from the lower part.

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IFPEN - IFP School 2015 / TOTAL SA 2015 / IFP Training 2015

Exploration Wells

Based on this seismic image and the geological model, a potential reservoir trapped in the
anticline structure can now be located in this target zone at a depth of 2.5kms.
A potential reservoir is now accurately located but, only by looking at these images, it is
impossible to check if this formation is filled with oil or gas.
Drilling a well to reach the potential reservoir is the only way to be sure of the presence of
fluid inside the rock which could be oil or gas but also water!

To answer this question, geologists and geophysicists must decide to drill an exploration
well.
The objectives of this well is not only to ascertain that hydrocarbons are present, but also to
recover a lot of data, especially in underexplored areas.
Geologists conduct direct observation from rock samples taken during the drilling of the
well, such as cuttings and cores.
During or after the drilling, specific measures called well logs are acquired by tools lowered
into the well. Interpretation of well logs gives a lot of information about reservoir rock
properties. To obtain fluid properties, fluid samples are taken during well tests. Other
measures such as initial pressure and evaluation of the permeability within the reservoir, are
also obtained during well testing.

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IFPEN - IFP School 2015 / TOTAL SA 2015 / IFP Training 2015

An exploration well could be a success, if a hydrocarbon reservoir is discovered, or a failure.

The failure case is when either no hydrocarbons are discovered or when there are
insufficient hydrocarbon accumulations to be exploited economically. In the failure case, the
exploration well will be abandoned and plugged. If sufficient hydrocarbon accumulation is
estimated, an exploration well becomes a discovery well. Other wells, called appraisal wells,
are drilled to acquire additional data and assess the characteristics of the proven
hydrocarbon accumulation.

Drilling exploration wells is very risky and probabilities of success vary from 60% for long
time explored basins to 10% in new explored zones. To discover a commercial amount of oil
and gas accumulations with a limited number of wells remains a challenge.

In this workflow, several years have been necessary to obtain a 3D view of the subsurface,
interpret the images, locate potential reservoirs and drill exploration wells. Once discovery
has been confirmed, the challenge for hydrocarbon exploration will continue with reservoir
characterization studies.

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IFPEN - IFP School 2015 / TOTAL SA 2015 / IFP Training 2015