Application of Seismic Attribute Technique to estimate the 3D model of

Hydraulic Flow Units: A case study of a gas field in Iran

abstract
One of the most important steps in evaluation and development of hydrocarbon reservoirs is
the mapping of their characteristics. Nowadays, Seismic Attribute Technique is used to build
parameters of hydrocarbon reservoirs in inter-well spaces. One of these parameters is the
Flow Zone Index (FZI) that has a significant effect on different stages of evaluation,
completion, primary and secondary production, reservoir modeling and reservoir
management. The aim of this study is to introduce an equation using seismic attribute and
FZI log in wells and then generalize it to predict FZI throughout the reservoir. For this
purpose, acoustic impedance (AI) volume as an external attribute was created while internal
attributes were computed from seismic data. After that, The best set of attributes was
determined using stepwise regression after which seismic attributes were applied to multi-
attribute analysis to predict FZI. Then, the attribute map resulted from multi-attribute analysis
was used to interpret the spatial distribution of the gas bearing carbonate layers. Finally, the
optimum number of Hydraulic Flow Units (HFU) was determined by analyzing the break
point in the plot of cumulative frequency of FZI for wells and was generalized all over the
reservoir by using the 3D HFU model. The results demonstrated that multi-attribute analysis
was astriking technique for HFU estimation in hydrocarbon reservoirs that reduces cost and
increases rate of success in hydrocarbon exploration. Distribution of producible hydrocarbon
zones along with the seismic lines around the reservoir was characterized by studying this
model which can help us in choosing the location of new wells and more economical drilling
operations.

1. Introduction
One of the most important steps in evaluation and development of hydrocarbon reservoirs is
the mapping of their characteristics. Numerous empirical relations between seismic attributes
and well log data have been introduced for estimation of physical properties such as porosity,
permeability, etc [1–7]. Multi-attribute analysis is an effective method to use well logs in
conjunction with seismic data for prediction of well log properties from the seismic
responses. In this paper multi-attribute method is used to examine the prediction of Flow
Zone Index (FZI) logs from seismic attributes. Permeability and FZI has a significant effect
on different stages of evaluation, completion, primary and secondary production, reservoir
modeling and reservoir management. Therefore, different methods have been used to
evaluate FZI by petroleum engineers [8–13]. Rezaee et al. introduced a new approach to
determine hydraulic flow unit (HFU) by the current zone indicator (CZI) and electrical flow
unit (EFU) concepts [14]. Recently, Dezfoolian et al. presented an intelligent model based on
probabilistic neural networks (PNN) to produce a quantitative formulation between seismic
attributes and HFU in Kangan and Dalan carbonate reservoirs [15]. Rastegarnia and
Kadkhodaie- Ilkhchi used seismic attribute analysis to predict FZI using seismic and well log
data. They showed that it is an effective technique to predict FZI in an oil reservoir [16].
Moreover, Yarmohammadi et al. delineated high porosity and permeability zones by using
the seismic derived flow zone indicator data at the Shah Deniz sandstone packages [17].
Rastegarnia et al. studied the application of seismic attribute analysis and neural Network to
estimate the 3D FZI and electrofacies of a hydrocarbon reservoir. They found that these
methods are successful in modeling of FZI and electrofacies from 3D seismic data [18].
In this study, FZI was estimated by use of seismic attribute analysis in one of Iranian gas
fields. For this purpose, acoustic impedance volume as an external attribute was created and
the internal attributes were computed from seismic data. The best set of attributes was
determined using stepwise regression. Seismic attributes were applied to multi-attribute
analysis to predict FZI. The attribute map resulted from multi-attribute analysis was then used
to interpret spatial distribution of the gas bearing carbonate layer. Petrophysical data of two
wells, 3D seismic data cube, and structurally interpreted data from a gas field in the
southwest of Iran were used in this study.

2. Study area
The gas field A, is one of the largest gas accumulations in the world containing about 8.5
trillions cubic meters of gas. In the Persian Gulf zone, the Permian gas basin is known as the
Khuff Formation. This sequence is composed mainly of carbonate rocks and is extended in
Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, and Iran (Fig. 1) [19]. Data in this study came from
two wells namely SP5 and SP9 penetrated into the specific reservoir in the field for which
FZI data and petrophysical logs were available. Figs. 2 and 3 show the wells used in this
work to build a spatial distribution of FZI. As can be seen, there is a good relationship
between FZI with Fig. 1. Geographical location of the gas field A. saturation gas and
lithology. The Dalan formation is divided into four zonations that are composed of biogenic
limestone dolomite and thin bed of anhydrite (Fig. 4). In this study, we used the 3D
seismic data to make a 3D HFU model for K4 section of Dalan formation.

3. Methodology
The aim of this study is to apply multi-attribute analysis of seismic data for prediction of FZI
throughout the Dalan formation. For this purpose, post stack 3D seismic and well log data of
two wells were used (Figs. 1 and 2). Moreover, porosity logs and FZI log were available for
all wells, but check shot data were only available in one well. In order to build a 3D model of
FZI the below procedure was followed based on Rastegarnia and Kadkhodaei-Ilkhichi [16]:
_ First, an acoustic impedance model was created using modelbased inversion that used as an
external attribute for the creation of a 3D FZI model;
_ Then the equation for correlating seismic attributes to FZI log was determined for wells in
the field. This equation is applied for estimation of the FZI log in the intervals between the
wells.
_ Finally, the optimal number of HFUs was determined using the plot of cumulative
frequency of FZI for both wells and was generalized on the created 3D HFU model.

3.1. Model-based inversion

Seismic inversion is a preliminary study in reservoir characterization. Therefore, there is a
continuous effort to optimize the inversion algorithm and improve the resolution of the
inverted volume. The amplitude-based seismic data were processed through a model-based
inversion algorithm to produce acoustic impedance volume which was used as an external
attribute in the multiattribute analysis [20]. For this purpose, sonic log data were corrected via
available seismic data (check shot), geological horizons were determined, picked and
interpreted in seismic lines and then best synthetic wavelet and seismogram were extracted.
Fig. 5 shows the extracted identification wavelet. Well logs and seismic were calibrated and
the highest correlation coefficient between real traces seismic and synthetic traces seismic
was obtained using calculated wavelet (Fig. 6). Afterwards, an initial model has been
developed and inverted for error correction (Fig. 7). To perform the model-based inversion, a
geological model was compared with seismic data. In order to find a better match, the result
of comparison is then used to iteratively update the model. Since this model does not use the
direct inversion of the seismic data, it is quite applicable [21]. In current study, ‘‘hard
constraint” method was implemented. Indeed, this method considers additional information
as a hard constraint that sets absolute boundaries on how far the final answer may deviate
from the initial model. In the model-based inversion algorithm, average block size and the
number of iterations are of prime importance. In this case, using average block size greater
than seismic sample interval is a must [21]. The logic behind these recommendations is the
assumption that there might be some false recorded readings from surrounded environment
that are possibly mixed with the data. A larger number of iteration results in better accuracy,
even though it is time consuming process. By investigating 3D seismic data from Dalan
formation, the following results were obtained; constraint limit was 25%, average block size
was 4 ms, and number of iterations was set to 10. The results of model-based inversion
demonstrate that this type of modeling can clearly identify considered geological layers (Fig.
8).

4. Results and discussion

In this study, the correlation exponent and RMS error between the predicted FZI and actual
FZI log in well location are 88% and 29.9 mm respectively for the training data. The resulted
3D FZI indicates high anomalies, which are in good agreement with the petrophysical
properties of oil producing wells in the field of interest. Also, optimal number of HFU
categories is determined using the plot of cumulative frequency of FZI for both SP5 and SP9.
HFU1 demonstrates low quality reservoir with low amount of permeability and porosity
whereas HFU5 represents a high quality reservoir with large amount of permeability and
porosity. For inter-well spaces, where well logs and core data were not available, the
intelligent model is applied. In this field, from NE to SW, quality of reservoir has been
increased significantly and directional wells can be drilled in deeper interval of reservoir to
produce more gas. Since HFU depends on the geological properties of the rocks, it helps in
tracking hydrocarbon saturation changes over the Dalan and provides information respecting
the locations of perforation and development wells.
5. Conclusion
In this study, multi-attribute analysis is successfully used to estimate FZI log from seismic
attributes. This technique is a fast method to evaluate the reservoir characteristics as well as
to reduce cost and increase rate of success in hydrocarbon exploration. The result of this
study showed that multi-attribute analysis was effective to predict HFU deploying seismic.
This model can be improved by neural network to be used as a guide model. Distribution of
producible hydrocarbon zones along with the seismic lines around the reservoir was
characterized by introducing this model which can help us in choosing the location of new
wells and more economical drilling operations.