SEISMIC RESERVOIR MODELING

Seismic reservoir characterization aims to build 3-dimensional models of rock and fluid properties, including elastic and petrophysical variables, to describe and monitor the state of the subsurface for hydrocarbon exploration and production and for CO2 sequestration. Rock physics modeling and seismic wave propagation theory provide a set of physical equations to predict the seismic response of subsurface rocks based on their elastic and petrophysical properties. However, the rock and fluid properties are generally unknown and surface geophysical measurements are often the only available data to constrain reservoir models far away from well control. Therefore, reservoir properties are generally estimated from geophysical data as a solution of an inverse problem, by combining rock physics and seismic models with inverse theory and geostatistical methods, in the context of the geological modeling of the subsurface. A probabilistic approach to the inverse problem provides the probability distribution of rock and fluid properties given the measured geophysical data and allows quantifying the uncertainty of the predicted results. The reservoir characterization problem includes both discrete properties, such as facies or rock types, and continuous properties, such as porosity, mineral volumes, fluid saturations, seismic velocities and density.