Exploitation of an oil field using AVO and post-stack rock property analysis methods

Andrew John Royle

Prospecting for new reservoir zones in mature trends often requires new exploration tools. The Colony sand member in east-central Alberta and Saskatchewan has been heavily explored using conventional seismic techniques to map subsurface geology and structure. The main diagnostic tool used to delineate the channel sand trends of the Colony sand member has been identification of "bright spot" anomalies. A relatively small amount of AVO/LMRTM work has been done on the Colony sand member. This is due to a combination of factors, including the high success rate using conventional techniques, and the fact that AVO/LMRTM techniques generally are not as effective at highlighting oil zones such as the Colony sand member compared with gas zones. Our goal was to see if AVO/LMRTM techniques would complement the drilled locations and possibly identify new drilling targets. AVO and LMRTM methods were successfully applied to a 3-D dataset to further delineate Colony channel reservoirs.