Seismic imaging of reservoir flow properties: Time‐lapse amplitude changes

Abstract

Asymptotic methods provide an efficient means by which to infer reservoir flow properties, such as permeability, from time‐lapse seismic data. A trajectory‐based methodology, similar to ray‐based methods for medical and seismic imaging, is the basis for an iterative inversion of time‐lapse amplitude changes. In this approach, a single reservoir simulation is required for each iteration of the algorithm. A comparison between purely numerical and the trajectory‐based sensitivities demonstrates their accuracy. Analysis of a set of synthetic amplitude changes indicates that we are able to recover large‐scale reservoir permeability variations from time‐lapse amplitude data. In an application to actual time‐lapse amplitude changes from the Bay Marchand field in the Gulf of Mexico, we are able to reduce the misfit by 81% in 12 iterations. The time‐lapse observations indicate lower permeabilities are required in the central portion of thereservoir.