Application of Far-Gather Seismic Attributes in Suppressing the Interference of Coal Beds in Reservoir Prediction

Abstract

The sandstone reservoir of the Pinghu Formation in the Xihu Depression, East China Sea is characterized by great depth, small thickness, radical facies change and a widespread coal bed. It is difficult to describe the reservoir accurately using conventional reservoir prediction methods. In order to analyze the influence of coal-bearing strata on the prediction of the mid-low thickness sandstone reservoir, the seismic response of different sandstone–coal stratigraphic assemblages was simulated by seismic forward modeling. The modeling result indicates that the post-stack seismic response is dominated by coal bed, whereas the response of sandstone can hardly be recognized. In contrast, the difference between the pre-stack AVO (amplitude versus offset) response characteristics of coal seams and gas-bearing sandstones has been clarified based on the statistics pertaining to AVO characteristics of drilled wells. Therefore, we propose a method to reduce the interference of coal beds in sandstone reservoir prediction using far-gather seismic information. This method has significantly improved the accuracy of reservoir prediction and sand description in sand–coal coupled environments and has been applied successfully in the exploration of coal-rich strata in the Pingbei slope belt, Xihu Depression.

Keywords

• coal strata
• seismic response
• pre-stack AVO forward
• dominant far-offset
• reservoir prediction