Stratal slicing: Benefits and challenges

Abstract

In the petroleum industry, seismic interpretation meth-odology varies according to a subject's scale. In basinal-to-field scale (hundreds of meters), the goal is to map gross stratigraphic and structural features that are associated with petroleum systems, including stratigraphy and depositional history, hydrocarbon generation, migration, and entrapment. Seismic stratigraphy and sequence stratigraphy are common tools for this purpose. At the reservoir scale (meters to tens of meters), the goal becomes characterizing distribution and physical properties related to volumetrics and production in a reservoir system. In this task, details are crucial. Seismic lithology and inversion, seismic geomorphology and sedimentology, and attribute analysis are some of the tools developed for this purpose.