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Australian Energy Producers Journal Australian Energy Producers Journal Society
Journal of Australian Energy Producers
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Non peer reviewed)

Quantitative application of post-stack inversion of organic-rich shale based on rock physics linear relationship and 3D seismic data, Perth Basin, Western Australia

Yazeed Altowairqi A , Reza Rezaee A and Milovan Urosevic A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

Curtin University.

The APPEA Journal 54(2) 532-532 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ13105
Published: 2014

Abstract

Unconventional resources such as shale gas have been an extremely important exploration and production target. To understand the seismic responses of the shale gas plays, the use of rock physical relationship is important, which is constrained with geology and formation-evaluation analysis. Since organic-rich shale seismic properties remains poorly understood, seismic inversion can be used to identify the organic-rich shale from barren shale. This approach helps identify and map spatial distributions and of the organic rich shales. This study shows the acoustic impedance (AI), which is the product of compressional velocity and density, decreases nonlinearly with increasing total organic carbon (TOC) content. TOC is obtained using Roc-Eval pyrolysis for more than 120 core shale samples for the Perth Basin. By converting the AI data to TOC percent on the seismic data, we therefore can map lateral distribution, thickness and variation in TOC profile. This extended abstract presents a case study of the northern Perth Basin 3D seismic with application of different approaches of seismic inversion and multi-attribute analysis with the rock physical relationships.

Yazeed Altowairqi is a PhD student in the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Curtin University. His research focuses on rock physics of high TOC shale-gas and the seismic response of shale. His study examines various applications of seismic inversion and mulit-attribute analysis though acoustic and shears impedance analysis. Yazeed is also trying to build a rock physics model of shale-gas formations from well log data and calibrating it to laboratory results. He was awarded his Master’s degree in geophysics in 2010 from Curtin University after completing his BSc, also in geophysics, in 2007 from King Abdulaziz University (KAAU).

Reza Rezaee is an associate professor at Curtin University’s Department of Petroleum Engineering. With a PhD in reservoir characterisation, he has more than 25 years’ experience in academia. Reza has supervised more than 60 MSc and PhD students during his university career to date. He has published more than 120 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers, and is the author of three books on petroleum geology, logging, and log interpretation. Reza’s research has been focused on integrated solutions for reservoir characterisation, formation evaluation and petrophysics. Presently, he is focused on unconventional gas—including gas shale and tight-gas sand studies—and is the lead scientist for the Western Australian Energy Research Alliance (WA:ERA) Exploration Initiative Scheme (EIS) Tight Gas and Shale Gas research projects. He established Curtin University’s Unconventional Gas Research Group in 2010.

Milovan Urosevic of Curtin University’s Department of Exploration Geophysics has a PhD in geophysics. His professional interests are in 3C seismic data processing analysis, 3C vertical seismic profile (VSP) imaging and seismic anisotropy. During his career he has been engaged in several research projects supported by national and international oil and gas companies and these commissions, together with his supervisory work at various universities, have involved a wide range of achievements. He has supervised over 70 MSc and PhD students during his university career. He has published more than 80 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers and is the author of one book on seismic methods.


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