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Direct detection of oil and gas fields based on seismic inelasticity effect

State Oil and Gas University (Gubkin), Russia

Valery I. Ryjkov

Oil and Gas Research Institute, Russia

Corresponding author: ryjkov@getek.ru

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

The term direct detection of hydrocarbons was used 50 years ago by I. G. Medovsky. He, apparently, was the first to connect increased attenuation of seismic waves with oil and gas fields. During last 20 years, we have conducted extensive experimental research, on well data and surface data, and measured the abnormal attenuation and velocity dispersion (AVD) of seismic waves in oil and gas fields. In all experiments, the deviation from theoretical elastic wave propagation was so high that we named this effect seismic inelasticity of oil and gas fields.

Our main finding is experimental confirmation that both attenuation and velocity dispersion are caused by hydrocarbon saturation of the deposit. The inelasticity effect occurs in oil, gas, and condensate fields in terrigenous and carbonate reservoirs. The AVD method has been successful in various regions of Russia and in China, Vietnam, and Latin America. The only exception has been in the northern Caucasus, where the attenuation anomaly was caused by water strongly carbonated by carbon dioxide.

	Measurements of parameters of inelasticity from VSP data

 
We have studied 33 wells—productive and unproductive, onshore and offshore—in the aforementioned regions. We measured attenuation as a vertical gradient of power spectrum. Velocity at different frequencies has . . . [Full Text of this Article]