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Velocity anisotropy analysis for shale lithology of the complex geological section in Jaisalmer sub-basin, India

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Abstract

Measurement of velocity anisotropy is an essential parameter for capturing the heterogeneity of sub-surface geology to characterise the hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir. The incorporation of velocity anisotropy parameters during the preparation of the 3D velocity model represents a robust result in a challenging geological set-up during interpretation. Generally, we can observe that the shale formation is more sensitive to velocity anisotropy response in comparison with other formations such as sandstone, siltstone for clastic reservoir or limestone and dolomite for carbonate reservoir. This study was performed mostly in the high amount shale section mixed with limestone and claystone of the Jaisalmer sub-basin area which lies in the western part of India. The preparation of the velocity model for frequent changes of lithology in the clastic and carbonate reservoir is challenging due to several changes of velocity which show a limitation in the result of the gridded velocity model. The objective of this study is to capture the changes of compressional and shear wave velocity in mixed lithology of the significant shale formation. The idea was due to the inclusion of the anisotropy incorporated changed velocity during the preparation of the gridded velocity model for correctly identified lithology. The shale formation which is the zone of investigation of the current study is situated over a carbonate sequence, and an estimated velocity anisotropy factor of this shale formation will contribute significantly during the cumulative study of velocity modelling of all formation. The current study shows that shale formation shows the character of orthorhombic anisotropy; however, this study was performed based on significant changes of well log data and related effects of vertically transverse isotropic parameters of the shale formation. The fundamental Thomsen anisotropy parameters were estimated by capturing the deviation of five independent stiffness coefficients. Significant changes in evaluated shale velocity were observed after the incorporation of the estimated Thomsen parameter in velocity values.

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Abbreviations

\( \sigma_{ij} \) :

Stress tensor

\( m_{ijkl} \) :

A stiffness tensor of rank four

\( \epsilon_{kl} \) :

Tensor of strain

\( \alpha \) :

Biot’s constant

\( P_{\rm {p}} \) :

Pressure of pore spaces

\( \epsilon \) :

Thomsen anisotropy parameter epsilon

γ :

Thomsen anisotropy parameter gamma

δ :

Thomsen anisotropy parameter delta

V P (90°):

P-wave in the vertical direction

V P (0°):

P-wave in the horizontal direction

V SH (90°):

S-wave in the vertical direction

V SH (0°):

S-wave in the horizontal direction

V ij :

Wave travelling in the axis of Xi and polarised along the axis of Xj

\( \rho\) :

Bulk density

V 12 :

Shear wave velocity over the axis (X1) and differentiated on the axis of X2

V 33 :

P-wave velocity travelling in the X3-axis and polarised in the same axis

V 11 :

S-wave velocity propagating along the axis X1 and polarised in the same axis

V 13 :

X-component of S-wave velocity estimated from P-wave velocity

m 33 :

The stiffness constant in the vertical direction

m 66 :

The stiffness constant in a plane which is horizontal that consists of shear wave in the X1 and X2 directions

m 11 :

The stiffness constant in a plane where S-wave is travelling along axis X1 and polarised in the same axis

m 55 :

Stiffness constant in the vertical plane consisting of P-wave along X3 direction and S-wave along X1 direction

m 13 :

The stiffness constant calculated from ANNIE model

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to NDR (National Data Repository), DGH (Director General of Hydrocarbon), India and GSPC, Gandhinagar, India for providing technical data support for research. The authors are profoundly thankful to Geophysical Data Quantitative Interpretation Lab. (GQIL), Department of Applied Geophysics, IIT(ISM) Dhanbad for providing support to carry out this research work. The authors would like to acknowledge M/s Schlumberger for providing R&D license for the research work. We are obliged to the reviewers of the Journal of Earth System Science for their critical review of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, India

    Nabanita Pradhan, Saurabh Datta Gupta & P R Mohanty

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  1. Nabanita Pradhan
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  2. Saurabh Datta Gupta
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  3. P R Mohanty
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Correspondence to Saurabh Datta Gupta.

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Communicated by N V Chalapathi Rao

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Pradhan, N., Datta Gupta, S. & Mohanty, P.R. Velocity anisotropy analysis for shale lithology of the complex geological section in Jaisalmer sub-basin, India. J Earth Syst Sci 128, 209 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-019-1226-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-019-1226-2

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