Quantifying 3D land seismic reliability and value
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abstract
Seismic data provide important information for guiding reservoir development. Improvements in data quality hold the promise of improving performance even further. Yet, the value of these data, and decision making capability, must exceed its cost. Previous work has demonstrated value of information (VOI) methods to quantify the value of seismic data. In these examples, seismic accuracy is obtained via expert assessment instead of being based on geophysical quantities. In addition, the modeled seismic information is not representative of a quantity that would be observed in a true processed seismic image. Here we apply a more general VOI model that includes multiple targets, budgetary constraints, and, importantly, quantitative models relating post-stack seismic amplitudes and AVO parameters to the quantities of interest for reservoir characterization, such as porosity and reservoir thickness. In addition, by including estimated changes in data accuracy related to signal-to-noise ratio, the decision model can provide objective estimates of the ability of the seismic data to provide reliable measurements and its value. We demonstrate this methodology within the context of a west Texas 3D land survey. This example demonstrates that seismic information can be quite valuable and improvements in seismic technology can create significant value for E&P companies. Copyright 2006, Society of Petroleum Engineers.
