Time-lapse AVO fluid inversion for dynamic reservoir characterization in Delhi field, Louisiana

Abstract

In the development stage, CO2 injection is becoming more widely used in enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Delhi Oil Field is part of Phases XIII and XIV of the Reservoir Characterization Project (RCP) Colorado School of Mines. The focus of these phases is to monitor the effectiveness of the CO2 injection in Delhi Field by using multicomponent time-lapse seismic data. In this study, I analyze the amplitude versus offset (AVO) response of the time-lapse P-wave seismic data in order to quantify the fluid probability in the field. RCP acquired four square miles of multicomponent time-lapse seismic in Delhi Field to characterize the field dynamically. RCP's two surveys, monitor 1 and monitor 2, were shot in 2010 and 2011 after the start of CO2 injection in November 2009. Time-lapse AVO modeling was performed. The modeling results show that both the top Tuscaloosa and Paluxy Formations are class III AVO, and change toward class IV AVO by increasing the CO2 saturation in the reservoir. In addition, the Paluxy Formation shows a consistent result between the synthetic and real data, however, the Tuscaloosa Formation is not consistent as it is affected by tuning. AVO fluid inversion (AFI) was performed on both the Tuscaloosa and Paluxy Formations in order to quantify the fluid probability in these formations. The inversion results are confirmed by the pseudo gamma ray model, the porosity model, the permeability model, the pressure model, and the production data. In the Tuscaloosa and Paluxy Formations, oil and CO2 are located in the good quality, high porosity, and high permeability sandstones. The presence of CO2 is also confirmed by the pressure interpretation. Furthermore, production data from both Tuscaloosa and Paluxy Formations confirm the fluid presence in the reservoir.