Advanced Gas Hydrate Reservoir Modeling Using Rock Physics
- Fugro GeoConsulting, Inc., Houston, TX (United States); Fugro
Prospecting for high saturation gas hydrate deposits can be greatly aided with improved approaches to seismic interpretation and especially if sets of seismic attributes can be shown as diagnostic or direct hydrocarbon indicators for high saturation gas hydrates in sands that would be of most interest for gas hydrate production.
A large 3D seismic data set in the deep water Eastern Gulf of Mexico was screened for gas hydrates using a set of techniques and seismic signatures that were developed and proven in the Central deepwater Gulf of Mexico in the DOE Gulf of Mexico Joint Industry Project JIP Leg II in 2009 and recently confirmed with coring in 2017.
A large gas hydrate deposit is interpreted in the data where gas has migrated from one of the few deep seated faults plumbing the Jurassic hydrocarbon source into the gas hydrate stability zone. The gas hydrate deposit lies within a flat-lying within Pliocene Mississippi Fan channel that was deposited outboard in a deep abyssal environment. The uniform architecture of the channel aided the evaluation of a set of seismic attributes that relate to attenuation and thin-bed energy that could be diagnostic of gas hydrates. Frequency attributes derived from spectral decomposition also proved to be direct hydrocarbon indicators by pseudo-thickness that could be only be reconciled by substituting gas hydrate in the pore space. The study emphasizes that gas hydrate exploration and reservoir characterization benefits from a seismic thin bed approach.
- Research Organization:
- Fugro GeoConsulting, Inc., Houston, TX (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE), Oil and Natural Gas (FE-30)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FE0010160
- OSTI ID:
- 1435441
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-FUGRO--10160
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Gas hydrate characterization from a 3D seismic dataset in the deepwater eastern Gulf of Mexico
Gas hydrate characterization from a 3D seismic dataset in the deepwater eastern Gulf of Mexico