Importance

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Abstract

The present invention indicates that acoustic characteristics associated with gas/oil-containing strata such as a sandstone, limestone or dolostone, including reflectivity coefficients can be normalized (and favorably compared) with similar characteristics calculated and displayed by means of a machine-implemented data processing method in which well logging and geologic data are fed thereto to calculate such characteristics without the need for shear-wave velocities. In more detail, in accordance with the invention brine-saturated bulk and shear moduli, (i.e., Kw* and Gw*) of a sandstone, limestone or dolostone can be predicted as a function of, say, brine-saturated P-wave modulus (Pw*) alone (independent of shear-wave velocity). In that way, resulting acoustic values including seismic velocities and amplitudes (also, reflectivities) as a function of a saturation operator can ultimately be provided. Such values, when compared to actual field-generated characteristics, are surprisingly accurate predictors of the amount of gas/oil saturation in the zone of interest. The method has particular accuracy in designating gas zones within formations of interest due to use of the complete Benedict-Webb-Rubin non-ideal gas law in pseudo-reduced form, as cited in Journal of Current Petroleum Technology, vol. 22, pp. 889-895.

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First Claim