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Journal of the Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists
RESEARCH ARTICLE

AVO analysis using crossplot and amplitude polynomial methods for characterisation of hydrocarbon reservoirs

Ji-Soo Kim 1 Won-Ki Kim 2 Hee-Sang Ha 3 5 Sung-Soo Kim 4
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- Author Affiliations

1 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Chungbuk National University, 410, Sungbongro 410, Hungduk-Gu, Cheongju-Si, Chungchungbuk-Do, Korea.

2 Department of Energy Systems Engineering, Seoul National University, Shillim-dong san 56-1, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, Korea.

3 GS E&C Research Institute Innovative Construction Research Team, Deokseong-ri, Idong-Myeon, Cheoin-Gu, Youngin-Si, Gyeonggi-Do, 449-831, Korea.

4 Department of Electrical Engineering, Chungbuk National University, 410, Sungbongro 410, Hungduk-Gu, Cheongju-Si, Chungchungbuk-Do, Korea.

5 Corresponding author. Email: hsha@gsconst.co.kr

Exploration Geophysics 42(1) 25-41 https://doi.org/10.1071/EG10048
Submitted: 4 October 2010  Accepted: 14 December 2010   Published: 25 February 2011

Abstract

AVO analysis was conducted on hydrocarbon-bearing structures by applying the crossplot and offset-coordinate amplitude polynomial techniques. To evaluate the applicability of the AVO analysis, it was conducted on synthetic data that were generated with an anticline model, and field data from the hydrocarbon-bearing Colony Sand bed in Canada. Analysis of synthetic data from the anticline model demonstrates that the crossplot method yields zero-offset reflection amplitude and amplitude variation with negative values for the upper interface of the hydrocarbon-bearing layer. The crossplot values are clustered in the third quadrant. The results of AVO analysis based on the coefficients of the amplitude polynomial are similar to those from the crossplots. These well correlated results of AVO analysis on field and synthetic data suggest that both methods successfully investigate the characteristics of the reflections from the upper interface of a hydrocarbon-bearing layer. Analysis based on the incident-angle equation facilitates the application of various interpretation methods. However, it requires the conversion of seismic data to an incident angle gather. By contrast, analysis using coefficients of the amplitude polynomial is cost-effective because it allows examining amplitude variation with offset without involving the conversion process. However, it warrants further investigation into versatile application. The two different techniques can be complement each other effectively as AVO-analysis tools for the detection of hydrocarbon reservoirs.

Key words: amplitude polynomial, AVO, crossplot, hydrocarbon.


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