Extraction of depositional systems
A process that assists with the identification of potential hydrocarbon deposits that includes performing a structural interpretation of a three-dimensional seismic volume, transforming the three-dimensional seismic volume into a stratal-slice volume, performing a stratigraphic interpretation of the stratal-slice volume which includes the extracting of bounding surfaces and faults and transforming the stratal-slice volume into the spatial domain. As illustrated in FIGS. 24 a, b and c , an exemplary seismic volume before Domain Transformation is presented in FIG. 24 a , interpreted horizons and faults used in the transformation are presented in FIG. 24 b , and the Domain Transformed stratal-slice volume is presented in FIG. 24 c . The input seismic volume in FIG. 24 a has deformations associated with syn- and post-depositional faulting. The output Domain Transformed volume (FIG. 24 c ) is substantially free of deformations.
1. A method for assisting with identifying hydrocarbon deposits comprising:
performing a structural interpretation of a three-dimensional seismic volume;
performing, by a processor, a three-dimensional transformation of the three-dimensional seismic volume into a stratal-slice volume;
performing a stratigraphic interpretation of the stratal-slice volume which includes the extracting of bounding surfaces of one or more of depositional systems, elements of depositional systems and stratigraphic features;
transforming the stratal-slice volume into the spatial domain; and
transforming the bounding surfaces into the spatial domain.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing the structural interpretation step on the stratal-slice volume.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a stratigraphic attribute volume.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising interpreting one or more faults and one or more horizons in the seismic volume.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the three-dimensional seismic volume includes one or more unconformities, faulted intervals, reefs, salt-bodies, salt-bounded intervals and canyons.
6. A method of analyzing a three-dimensional seismic volume comprising:
receiving the three-dimensional seismic volume; and
performing, by a processor, a three-dimensional transformation of the three-dimensional seismic volume into a stratal-slice volume.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the stratal-slice volume represents at least one approximate paleo-depositional surface.
8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising interpreting one or more faults and one or more horizons in the seismic volume.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising refining the structural interpreting step.
10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising conditioning the seismic volume.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the conditioning step comprises filtering, noise filtering, seismic acquisition artifact removal, three-dimensional filtering, spatial filtering, edge preserving filtering and non-linear diffusion filtering.
12. The method of claim 6 , wherein the transforming step reduces the effects of syn-depositional and post-depositional geologic processes.
13. The method of claim 5 , further comprising performing stratigraphic interpretation of the stratal-slice volume.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the stratigraphic interpretation assists with the identification and interpretation of elements of depositional systems or other seismic stratigraphic features.
15. The method of claim 6 , further comprising transforming the stratal-slice volume into the spatial domain.
16. The method of claim 6 , wherein the three-dimensional seismic volume includes one or more unconformities, faulted intervals, reefs, salt-bodies, salt-bounded intervals and canyons.
17. A system to assist with the identification of hydrocarbon deposits comprising:
a structural interpretation module that performs a structural interpretation of a three-dimensional seismic volume;
a domain transformation module and processor that perform a three-dimensional transformation of the three-dimensional seismic volume into a stratal-slice volume;
a stratigraphic interpretation module that performs a stratigraphic interpretation of the stratal-slice volume which includes the extracting of bounding surfaces of one or more of depositional systems, elements of depositional systems and stratigraphic features; and
an inverse domain transformation module that transforms the stratal-slice volume and bounding surfaces into the spatial domain.
18. The system of claim 17 , wherein, in cooperation with a structural refinement module, the structural interpretation module performs structural interpretation on the stratal-slice volume.
19. The system of claim 17 , wherein one or more faults and one or more horizons are interpreted in the seismic volume.
20. The system of claim 17 , wherein the three-dimensional seismic volume includes one or more unconformities, faulted intervals, reefs, salt-bodies, salt-bounded intervals and canyons.
21. A non-transitory computer readable information storage media having stored thereon instructions, that if executed by a processor, cause to be performed a method for assisting with the identifying hydrocarbon deposits comprising:
performing a structural interpretation of a three-dimensional seismic volume;
performing, by a processor, a three-dimensional transformation of the three-dimensional seismic volume into a stratal-slice volume;
performing a stratigraphic interpretation of the stratal-slice volume which includes the extracting of bounding surfaces of one or more of depositional systems, elements of depositional systems and stratigraphic features;
transforming the stratal-slice volume into the spatial domain; and
transforming the bounding surfaces into the spatial domain.
22. The media of claim 21 , further comprising performing the structural interpretation step on the stratal-slice volume.
23. The media of claim 21 , further comprising determining a stratigraphic attribute volume.
24. The media of claim 21 , further comprising interpreting one or more faults and one or more horizons in the seismic volume.
25. The media of claim 21 , wherein the three-dimensional seismic volume includes one or more unconformities, faulted intervals, reefs, salt-bodies, salt-bounded intervals and canyons.
26. A system to assist with the identification of hydrocarbon deposits comprising:
means for performing a structural interpretation of a three-dimensional seismic volume;
means for performing, with at least a processor, a three-dimensional transformation of the three-dimensional seismic volume into a stratal-slice volume;
means for performing a stratigraphic interpretation of the stratal-slice volume which includes the extracting of bounding surfaces of one or more of depositional systems, elements of depositional systems and stratigraphic features;
means for transforming the stratal-slice volume into the spatial domain; and
means for transforming the bounding surfaces into the spatial domain.
27. The system of claim 26 , further comprising performing the structural interpretation step on the stratal-slice volume.
28. The system of claim 26 , further comprising determining a stratigraphic attribute volume.
29. The system of claim 26 , further comprising interpreting one or more faults and one or more horizons in the seismic volume.
30. The system of claim 26 , wherein the three-dimensional seismic volume includes one or more unconformities, faulted intervals, reefs, salt-bodies, salt-bounded intervals and canyons.
31. A system for analyzing a three-dimensional seismic volume comprising:
means for receiving the three-dimensional seismic volume; and
means for performing, by a processor, a three-dimensional transformation of the three-dimensional seismic volume into a stratal-slice volume.
32. The system of claim 31 , wherein the stratal-slice volume represents at least one approximate paleo-depositional surface.
33. The system of claim 31 , further comprising means for interpreting one or more faults and one or more horizons in the seismic volume.
34. The system of claim 33 , further comprising means for conditioning the seismic volume.
35. The system of claim 34 , wherein the conditioning step comprises filtering, noise filtering, seismic acquisition artifact removal, three-dimensional filtering, spatial filtering, edge preserving filtering and non-linear diffusion filtering.
36. The system of claim 33 , further comprising means for refining the structural interpreting step.
37. The system of claim 31 , wherein the transforming step reduces the effects of syn-depositional and post-depositional geologic processes.
38. The system of claim 31 , further comprising means for performing stratigraphic interpretation of the stratal-slice volume.
39. The system of claim 38 , wherein the stratigraphic interpretation assists with the identification and interpretation of elements of depositional systems or other seismic stratigraphic features.
40. The system of claim 31 , further comprising means for transforming the stratal-slice volume into the spatial domain.
41. A non-transitory computer-readable information storage media having stored thereon instructions, that if executed by a processor, cause to be performed a method of analyzing a three-dimensional seismic volume comprising:
receiving the three-dimensional seismic volume; and
performing, by a processor, a three-dimensional transformation of the three-dimensional seismic volume into a stratal-slice volume.
42. The media of claim 41 , wherein the stratal-slice volume represents at least one approximate paleo-depositional surface.
43. The media of claim 41 , further comprising interpreting one or more faults and one or more horizons in the seismic volume.
44. The media of claim 43 , further comprising conditioning the seismic volume.
45. The media of claim 44 , wherein the conditioning step comprises filtering, noise filtering, seismic acquisition artifact removal, three-dimensional filtering, spatial filtering, edge preserving filtering and non-linear diffusion filtering.
46. The media of claim 43 , further comprising refining the structural interpreting step.
47. The media of claim 41 , wherein the transforming step reduces the effects of syn-depositional and post-depositional geologic processes.
48. The media of claim 41 , further comprising performing stratigraphic interpretation of the stratal-slice volume.
49. The media of claim 48 , wherein the stratigraphic interpretation assists with the identification and interpretation of elements of depositional systems or other seismic stratigraphic features.
50. The media of claim 41 , further comprising transforming the stratal-slice volume into the spatial domain.