Application of 3D vertical seismic profile multi‐component data to tight gas sands‡

Due to the complicated geophysical character of tight gas sands in the Sulige gasfield of China, conventional surface seismic has faced great challenges in reservoir delineation. In order to improve this situation, a large‐scale 3D‐3C vertical seismic profiling (VSP) survey (more than 15 000 shots) was conducted simultaneously with 3D‐3C surface seismic data acquisition in this area in 2005. This paper presents a case study on the delineation of tight gas sands by use of multi‐component 3D VSP technology. Two imaging volumes (PP compressional wave; PSv converted wave) were generated with 3D‐3C VSP data processing. By comparison, the dominant frequencies of the 3D VSP images were 10–15 Hz higher than that of surface seismic images. Delineation of the tight gas sands is achieved by using the multi‐component information in the VSP data leading to reduce uncertainties in data interpretation. We performed a routine data interpretation on these images and developed a new attribute titled ‘Centroid Frequency Ratio of PSv and PP Waves’ for indication of the tight gas sands. The results demonstrated that the new attribute was sensitive to this type of reservoir. By combining geologic, drilling and log data, a comprehensive evaluation based on the 3D VSP data was conducted and a new well location for drilling was proposed. The major results in this paper tell us that successful application of 3D‐3C VSP technologies are only accomplished through a synthesis of many disciplines. We need detailed analysis to evaluate each step in planning, acquisition, processing and interpretation to achieve our objectives. High resolution, successful processing of multi‐component information, combination of PP and PSv volumes to extract useful attributes, receiver depth information and offset/ azimuth‐dependent anisotropy in the 3D VSP data are the major accomplishments derived from our attention to detail in the above steps.