Risking seismic amplitude anomaly prospects based on database trends

Abstract

Many oil companies routinely evaluate prospects for their drilling portfolio and seismic amplitude anomalies play an important role in this process. When these anomalies occur at a potential reservoir level, they are often called DHIs or direct hydrocarbon indicators, which are changes in reflection response that may be related to oil and/or gas accumulations. Examples of DHIs include bright spots, flat spots, dim spots, character/phase change at a projected oil or gas/water contact, and an amplitude variation with offset. Many uncertainties should be considered and analyzed in the process of assigning a probability of success and resource estimate range before including a seismic amplitude anomaly prospect in an oil company's prospect portfolio.