CAGC Column

…The Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada’s Strategic Human Resources Study of the Upstream Petroleum Industry “The Decade Ahead” will be released later this fall. The Petroleum Council was established as a sector council in October 2001 through the initiative of industry and the Sectoral Partnerships Initiative of Human Resources…

Tracing the Industry

…Quantum Seismic Services is relocating to new facilities, located at 600, 839-5th Ave. SW. Friends and Colleagues can now contact Paul Hebert, Lynne Wortman, John Williams and Meenaz Rajan at 265-4050. Quantum is looking forward to continuing existing and forming new relationships with enhanced seismic data processing service capabilities. Tricon…

Pseudo Gamma Ray Volumes Estimated from Offset Seismic

David Timko

…Using seismic to explore for clastic reservoirs in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin is often difficult due to the inability to distinguish between interbedded sand and shale lithologies using acoustic impedance. The problem is made even more difficult when the AVO response to sand-shale interfaces distorts the reflection amplitudes on…

Multi-Attribute Seismic Analysis on AVO derived parameters – a case study

Satinder Chopra and Doug Pruden

…Prospecting for reservoir zones in mature trends sometimes requires unconventional exploration tools. AVO has been successfully used as a direct hydrocarbon indicator in some clastic rocks. Lately, AVO inversion for Lame parameters (λρ and μρ) has been shown to enhance identification of reservoir zones (Goodway et al, 1997). However, the…

Seismic anisotropy of shales

Pavlo Y. Cholach and Douglas R. Schmitt

…Abstract Shales are volumetrically the most abundant sedimentary rocks. Shales are also known to be anisotropic to the propagation of seismic waves. Thick shale layers may significantly affect seismic wave propagation and contribute to the distortion of a seismic image. The elastic behavior of shales is usually associated with the…

Summary of the Poisson’s Ratio Debate 1990 – 2003

Peter Gretener

…Poisson’s ratio This relationship was defined by Poisson in 1829 as follows: where νs is the static Poisson’s ratio εh is the lateral strain ΔR/R (expansion) εz is the axial strain ΔL/L (contraction) These are all for an unconfined core under axial stress and this is a static test (the…

The New Role of Petrophysics in Geophysical Interpretation

E.R. Crain

…New Roles - New Interactions - New Integration The role of petrophysics in seismic interpretation has taken a major leap forward in the past ten years, resulting from important advances in seismic data processing techniques, particularly seismic inversion, attribute analysis, and amplitude versus offset methods that showed we could estimate…

VSP Reflection Points for Linear Inhomogeneity and Elliptical Anisotropy

C.J. Wheaton and M.A. Slawinski

…Abstract An exact analytical expression for traveltime in a medium with a constant velocity gradient and elliptical velocity dependence is used to calculate possible reflection points for a given source receiver geometry. The set of reflection points are collectively referred to as the illumination zone. Also, we give an expression…

DoodleTrain on Track

Bill Nickerson

…Oh to visit Calgary in early November. It’s too late for golf and too early to ski, but some of the most respected geophysicists in the world will be coming to our city during the week of November 3rd to the 7th. Canadian instructors will be joined by instructors from…

CAGC Column

…The Path forward to Aboriginal Consultation in Alberta To establish Fair and Equal Competition with Open Access for all Service and Supply Contractors on a Province-wide basis within Alberta. Who is the CAGC? The CAGC is 1 of 6 business associations within the Oil and Gas Industry in Canada. We…

Tracing the Industry

…Graham Carter has joined Hampson-Russell, which is now part of Veritas, to increase customer service for clients in Calgary. Graham would be pleased to arrange demos of Hampson-Russell’s new and existing reservoir characterization software. He can be reached at 266-3225 or email: graham_carter@veritasdgc.com. Elizabeth Atkinson (formerly Elizabeth Clark) has recently…

Grapevine

…Veritas Integrates Depth Imaging and Reservoir Characterization To provide more integrated services, Veritas GeoServices recently integrated Depth Imaging and Reservoir Characterization groups in to the mainstream land-processing groups. In March, the Land Depth Imaging group joined Canada Land Processing with the intention of getting the most out of their expertise…

Olivier Dubrule

An Interview with Olivier Dubrule

…[Satinder]: Please tell us about your formal educational training and your professional experience. I graduated as a civil engineer in 1978 from Ecole des Mines de Paris. This was the late seventies, and the Ecole des Mines’ “Centre de Géostatistique” was developing new methods and applications for the petroleum industry.…

Art Weglein

An Interview with Art Weglein

…[Satinder]: Art let us begin by asking you about your educational background and work experience. I received a Bachelors, Masters, and PhD in Mathematics and Physics from the City College of the City University of New York followed by a two year post-doctoral fellowship at U. Texas at Dallas. I…

Smearing the sideslip and other anisotropy problems, or — “Don’t hate me because I am beautiful: 3D anisotropic depth migration in the Canadian Foothills”

Robert Vestrum

…Abstract Seismic waves exhibit fascinating, non-intuitive behaviours in the presence of anisotropy. Seismic anisotropy refers to the characteristic of materials, such as shale-dominated clastics, where the seismic velocity changes with direction of wave propagation. We explore wave-propagation phenomena and their effects on seismic imaging of complex-structure exploration targets below anisotropic…

Where you sit governs what you see

Heloise Lynn

…If you sit at a seashore, you see sand and waves and ocean and sky …..or, do you see sand and dune and cliff and rocks and trees and sky? Well, obviously, which way you face governs what you see (unless you have eyes in the back of your head).…

Permeability Anisotropy from Seismic Anisotropy and Other Holy Grails

Heloise Lynn

…Permeability anisotropy from seismic anisotropy is an exciting avenue to gain insights into the aligned flow conduits – the aligned connected porosity – which set up a form of seismic anisotropy. The last SEG Annual Meeting (2002) had an entire session on the relationships between seismic anisotropy and permeability anisotropy.…

High-dimensionality 3D seismic data visualization and interpretation: Simultaneous interpretation of nine co-rendered volumes

Heloise Lynn, Ping Chen, and Chenyi Hu

…Abstract Many 3D volumes of attributes derived from travel times or amplitude measurements are useful for geologic insights when wide-azimuth, or multicomponent surveys are processed for the attribute value itself and the azimuthal characteristics of the value. For wide-azimuth 3D PP data, Vrms PP, Vint PP, AVO, and their elliptical…

Interpreting seismic data in the presence of azimuthal anisotropy; or azimuthal anisotropy in the presence of the seismic interpretation

Marty Williams and Edward Jenner

…Measuring P-wave azimuthal anisotropy has been in the recent past an elusive task; therefore, the interpreter ignored this attribute of the seismic data and left the subject to the research and technology group geophysicists. Conversely, the interpreting geophysicist knew that when measured, the anisotropy could yield important reservoir properties related…

Fractured Reservoir Characterization using AVAZ on the Pinedale Anticline, Wyoming

David Gray, Sean Boerner, Dragana Todorovic-Marinic and Ye Zheng

…Summary The Pinedale Anticline in Wyoming, USA, has become an area of particular interest since the recent success of several wells that have produced significant volumes of gas from its tight sandstone reservoirs. Production from these reservoirs is now possible using new stimulation techniques developed in the neighboring Jonah Field.…