Conclusions

• 3-D seismic volumetric curvature attributes highlight subtle fracture-related lineaments that cannot be identified by other methods.
• In Dickman Field, Ness County, Kansas, 3-D seismic volumetric curvature attributes reveal two main lineament directions, N45E and N45W, which reflect county-wide structural trends.
• Integration of attribute and well information allows the nature of the fractures (fluid conduits vs. fluid barriers) to be inferred.
• NE-trending lineaments in Dickman Field appear to be barriers to fluid flow, and may represent shale-filled fractures.
• NW-trending lineaments in Dickman Field appear to represent open fractures, which serve as conduits into the underlying aquifer.
• Understanding the orientations of open and filled fractures in mature Mid-Continent Mississippian reservoirs is an important pre-requisite for effectively using techniques such as targeted infill drilling, horizontal drilling, and gel polymer treatments to enhance production.

References

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Blumentritt, C., K. J. Marfurt, and E. C. Sullivan, 2005, Volume-based curvature computations illuminate fracture orientations, Lower-Mid Paleozoic, Central Basin Platform, West Texas, http://www.agl.uh.edu/publications/abstracts/Curvature_Case_Study_Blumentritt.pdf.

 

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Acknowledgments

• Grand Mesa Operating Company, for providing seismic and well data.
• Seismic Micro-Technology, Inc., for access to The KINGDOM Suite+ seismic-interpretation software
• GeoPLUS Corporation, for access to the PETRA7 well-log correlation and mapping software
• Dr. R. J. Holcombe, University of Queensland, for making available GEOrient software (http://www.earth.uq.edu.au/~rodh/software/), which was used to construct Rose diagrams
• The U. S. Department of Energy, for project funding under contracts DE-FG26-03NT15438 and DE-FC26-04NT15504