BEng Petroleum Engineering

Year 2

EART20411 Subsurface Techniques

Professor: Dr. Mads Huuse

Coursework:
Troll Seismic Interpretation Project

Maximiano Kanda Ferraz ID 9568640

Manchester, December 2014

The coursework consists of the seismic interpretation of acquired Troll field seismic
lines, both in paper and through the Petrel Software. The interpretation aimed to identify the
main faults and the BCU (Base Cretaceous Unconformity) horizon.
The Troll field lies in the northern part of the North Sea, near Bergen, and contains
about 40% of total gas reserves on the Norwegian continental shelf, Troll is also one of the
largest oil fields in Norway. In 2002, the oil production was more than 400,000 barrels per
day. The enormous gas reservoirs lying 1,400 meters below sea level are expected to
produce for at least another 70 years. The reservoir is located in three eastward-tilted fault
blocks 1500 m subsea and consists of cyclic shallow-marine sandstones formations overlain
by Upper Jurassic to Paleocene clays (rocks formed around 150 to 60 million years ago).
Located in the eastern margin of the Viking Graben, water depths range from 300355 m
[3].
The Petrel software is a Schlumberger owned E&P software platform that provides
an integrated solution from exploration to production. By bringing the whole workflow into
a single application, risk and uncertainty can be assessed more carefully. According to the
manual, the system allows the user [1]:

Seismic visualization and interpretation in 2D and 3D windows.

Perform well correlation.
Build reservoir models suitable for simulation.
Gridding of 2D structural surfaces and the generated 3D fault model.
3D visualization of geophysical, geological, petrophysical and production data.
3D property modeling based on well logs and trend data.
Facies and Fracture Modeling.
Volume calculations, data analysis and plotting.
Among others.

Figure 1 is a screenshot of the Petrel interface, with the location of its main features.

Figure 1 Petrel Interface [2]

Firstly, there was the familiarization with the software 3D window, by discovering
and testing shortcuts (H, P and V buttons, mouse buttons and movements, zoom in/out,
etc.), always respecting the arrow pointing north, on its green side to locate the correct side
and direction of the seismic data. Then, it was created an interpretation folder, which was
used to carry out the 2D interpretation of the faults, with the create fault interpretation
function; and the contour of the BCU, with the create seismic horizon function. The
contour was made using primarily the seeded 2D auto tracking, followed by guided auto
tracking and manual tracking. Gaps were encountered where the BCU intercepted faults.
The result is showed in Figure 2.

Figure 2 BCU and main faults tracked in 2D (Red=Elevated, Blue=More Profound)

The next step was the creation of the contoured surface map based on the BCU
horizon made, with the later addition of the 2D faults. The results are present in Figure 3. It
can be noted the effect of the faults in the second map.

Figure 3 Contoured Surface Map (Red=Elevated, Blue=More Profound)

The scanned 2D hand-made map of the troll field, as showed in Figure 4, was
imported to the project, and its coordinates corrected to coincide with the map coordinates.
Figure 5 shows this map overlapped over the project. As the hand-made map was not
finished (it was just marked the faults observed in the seismic trace), it can just be observed
the faults coinciding whit the software interpretation.

Figure 4 Scanned Map

Figure 5 Scanned Map over the surface

To begin with the 3D interpretation, it was to reconnect missing files of the survey 1
to generate the 3D map, resulting in X, Y and Z planes that can be slided up/down (Z) and
right/left (X,Y). The X and Y planes represent the structural and stratigraphic variations, the
Z-plane, the variation in the reflectivity of the waves (generated in the surface, to provide
the seismic response after correction, noise reduction, processing). After that, it was
obtained the variance (measure for trace to trace variability calculated for a sliding window
along each seismic trace, enhancing faults, in red), through Volume attributes process.
Figure 6 shows these planes.

Figure 6 Variance planes, Reflectivity and structural variation planes

The next step was to develop the reinterpretation of the key faults (right, middle and
center faults) in the 3D volume. Then, generate the BCU surface, by first, making the 2D
contour, from east to west, then using the 3D auto tracking feature (Points will be tracked
outwards from the seedpoints in all directions, with good quality reflectors). To enhance
there is yet the 3D track in the horizon settings. The result is in Figures 7&8

Figure 7 3D Faults

Figure 8 3D BCU

It can be observed that the faults follow the variance details in Figure 7 and in Figure
8, the surface follows the stratigraphy of the region and respects the faults which cut the
BCU. Lowering the quality of the 3D track feature, the 3D BCU surface covers more of the
volume, as show in Figure 9.

Figure 9 3D BCU with the 3D track feature

Figure 10 shows the Dip/azimuth surface created through surface attributes and the
thickness map comparing the BCU without and with faults. The first show the difference
between the faults and the stratigraphy, and in the second, the effects of the faults in with the
areas around can be seen with clarity.

Figure 10 Dip/azimuth surface and Thickness map

The impact of faulting in the reservoir deliverability of the field:

The fault can fulfill a lot of function in a petroleum geological system. Faults can be:

Migration paths for the oil/gas to migrate from the source rock to the reservoir
Traps for the oil not to exudate to the surface
Links to connected/adjacent reservoirs
Increase the porosity/permeability of reservoirs due to stress
These factors help the deliverability of the field.

An exploration well can be placed in several locations, based on the correct

interpretation of the subsurface, and identifying the main conditions that define a good
petroleum reservoir. The best condition to identify a big reservoir is the difference between
the BCU and the top reservoir horizon, adjacent to a fault, near a flat spot (horizontal
reflector, resulted from the increase of seismic impedance), denoting a large gas column
overlying a liquid-filled porous rock (greater thickness of reservoir). Figure 11 and 12 shows
a location that has these characteristics.

Figure 11 Locations of a possible well

Figure 12 Location of a possible well in the base map

REFERENCES

[1] Schlumberger (2014). Petrel E&P Software Platform. Available at:

http://www.software.slb.com/products/platform/Pages/petrel.aspx (Accessed: 8th December
2014).

[2] Petrofaq (2014). Petrel. Available at: http://petrofaq.org/wiki/Category:Petrel (Accessed:

8th November 2014).

[3] Statoil (2014). The Troll Area. Available at: http://www.statoil.com/

en/ouroperations/explorationprod/ncs/troll/pages/default.aspx (Accessed: 8th November
2014).

[4] Huuse, Mads (2014). Class Notes.