Source rock potential analysis using rock physics approach and 2D seismic data inversion: case study of Great Australian Bight

Abstract:

The quantity of total organic carbon (TOC) and its type determine the ability of source rocks to generate hydrocarbons. Thus, the quantification of TOC content is an essential part of any reservoir characterisation project. Traditionally TOC is estimated from geochemical analysis of core samples. In this case the results are limited spatially by a well location as well as vertically by a number of tested samples. At the same time TOC vertical variability might be very high, changing every 1-3 m. The several methods have been deployed to estimate TOC from well-log data which provides continuous vertical profile estimations. The basin wide information might be provided by the utilization of seismic surveys. The methodology of mapping source rocks based on seismic data has been lately reported to be successful for the thick source rocks (>20 m) with relatively high TOC values up to 3-4% (Løseth et al., 2011).

We employ the described approach and demonstrate our findings for a case study from Ceduna Basin (Great Australian Bight, Australia). The reported TOC values estimated from the cores go up to only 1.3%. The organic matter is contained in thin layers of claystones interlayered with sandstones.

The workflow included TOC estimation from the well-log data and then seismic data inversion performed in Jason^TM software. The inverted acoustic impedance decreases nonlinearly with increasing TOC content. The obtained results comprises 2D section of TOC distribution. The calculated TOC values are in a good agreement with the results of laboratory measurements.

The results of this study show that TOC can be successfully estimated from seismic data inversion even in the case of low organic matter values. Further work has to be done to understand whether this approach works for different types of organic matter and stages of its maturation.

Løseth H., Wensaas L., Gading M., Duffaut K., Springer M. 2001. Can hydrocarbon source rocks be identified on seismic data? Geology 39/12.