Fault deformation, seismic amplitude and unsupervised fault facies analysis: Snøhvit Field, Barents Sea

Abstract. Five seismic interpretation experiments were conducted on an area of interest containing a fault relay in the Snøhvit field, Barents Sea, Norway, to understand how the interpretation method impacts the analysis of fault and horizon morphologies, fault lengths, and throw. The resulting horizon and fault interpretations from the least and most successful interpretation methods were further analysed to understand their impact on geological modelling and hydrocarbon volume calculation. Generally, the least dense manual interpretation method of horizons (32 inlines and 32 crosslines; 32 ILs × 32 XLs, 400 m) and faults (32 ILs, 400 m) resulted in inaccurate fault and horizon interpretations and underdeveloped relay morphologies and throw, which are inadequate for any detailed geological analysis. The densest fault interpretations (4 ILs, 50 m) and 3D auto-tracked horizons (all ILs and XLs spaced 12.5 m) provided the most detailed interpretations, most developed relay and fault morphologies, and geologically realistic throw distributions. Sparse interpretation grids generate significant issues in the model itself, which make it geologically inaccurate and lead to misunderstanding of the structural evolution of the relay. Despite significant differences between the two models, the calculated in-place petroleum reserves are broadly similar in the least and most dense experiments. However, when considered at field scale, the differences in volumes that are generated by the contrasting interpretation methodologies clearly demonstrate the importance of applying accurate interpretation strategies.

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Section: Exp 4: 3d Tracked Methods With Dip-parallel Fault Sticksmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of seismic interpretation methods on the analysis of faults: a case study from the Snøhvit field, Barents Sea

et al. 2021

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“…This attribute was chosen as it is a well-known fault enhancing attribute and is widely used in fault interpretation (e.g. Botter et al, 2016b;Cunningham et al, 2019). The resulting fault sticks have a high degree of horizontal curvature as each stick traces a fault's entire lateral extent.…”

Section: Exp 5: 3d Auto-tracked Horizons With Horizontal (Strike Parallel) Fault Sticksmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Seismic Interpretation Methods on the Analysis of Faults: A Case Study from the Snøhvit Field, Barents Sea

Cunningham¹,

Cardozo²,

Townsend³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Five seismic interpretation experiments were conducted on an area of interest containing a fault relay in the Snøhvit field, Barents Sea, Norway, to understand how interpretation method impacts the analysis of fault and horizon morphologies, fault lengths, and vertical displacement (throw). The resulting horizon and fault interpretations from the least and most successful interpretation methods were further analysed to understand the impact of interpretation method on geological modelling and hydrocarbon volume calculation. Generally, the least dense manual interpretation method of horizons (32 inlines (ILs) x 32 crosslines (XLs), 400 m) and faults (32 ILs, 400 m) resulted in inaccurate fault and horizon interpretations and underdeveloped relay morphologies and throw that can be considered inadequate for any detailed geological analysis. The densest fault interpretations (4 ILs, 50 m) and auto-tracked horizons (1 IL x 1 XL, 12.5 m) provided the most detailed interpretations, most developed relay and fault morphologies and geologically realistic throw distributions. Analysis of the geological modelling proved that sparse interpretation grids generate significant issues in the model itself which make it geologically inaccurate and lead to misunderstanding of the structural evolution of the relay. Despite significant differences between the two models the calculated in-place petroleum reserves are broadly similar in the least and most dense experiments. However, when considered at field-scale the magnitude of the differences in volumes that are generated solely by the contrasting interpretation methodologies clearly demonstrates the importance of applying accurate interpretation strategies.

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Outcrop-scale fracture analysis and seismic modelling of a basin-bounding normal fault in platform carbonates, central Italy

Volatili

Agosta

Cardozo

et al. 2022

Journal of Structural Geology

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Fault deformation, seismic amplitude and unsupervised fault facies analysis: Snøhvit Field, Barents Sea

Cited by 7 publications

References 52 publications

The impact of seismic interpretation methods on the analysis of faults: a case study from the Snøhvit field, Barents Sea

The impact of seismic interpretation methods on the analysis of faults: a case study from the Snøhvit field, Barents Sea

The Impact of Seismic Interpretation Methods on the Analysis of Faults: A Case Study from the Snøhvit Field, Barents Sea

Outcrop-scale fracture analysis and seismic modelling of a basin-bounding normal fault in platform carbonates, central Italy

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