Exxonmobil Upstream Research Company

Michael A Payne

Enru Liu

Shiyu Xu

Limin Song

Max Deffenbaugh

Xinyou Lu

Ganglin Chen

John Henry Dunsmuir

Yaping Zhu

Carrie X Zhan

Carrie Xin Zhan

A hydrocarbon exploration method is disclosed for developing a model of at least one effective material property of a subsurface reservoir as a function of the composition and structure of the reservoir rock. In one embodiment, the method comprises: obtaining a 3D image () of a rock sample characteristic of a reservoir of interest (); segmenting the 3D image into compositional classes () based on similarities in mineralogy, structure and spatial distribution; selecting a model () that relates an effective material property of interest to the volume fractions of each compositional class; and determining the parameters of the model (). The model may be used to assess the commercial potential of the subsurface reservoir ().

Method for determining the properties of hydrocarbon reservoirs from geophysical data

A hydrocarbon exploration method is disclosed for generating anisotropic resistivity models of a subsurface reservoir from seismic and well data using a rock physics model. In one embodiment, the method comprises: selecting wells within a region of interest (); obtaining a plurality of rock properties () and adjusting selected rock parameters () in the calibration of the rock physics model at the well locations; inverting porosity and shale content from seismic data (); propagating the calibrated rock physics model to the region of interest () and calculating effective resistivity for the entire region of interest (). The inventive method also provides for analyzing the uncertainty associated with the prediction of the resistivity volume.

Method for generating anisotropic resistivity volumes from seismic and log data using a rock physics model

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Spring, TX, United States of America

Michael A Payne