Impact of pore fluid heterogeneities on angle-dependent reflectivity in poroelastic layers: A study driven by seismic petrophysics

The present study demonstrates the application of seismic petrophysics and amplitude versus angle (AVA) forward modeling to identify the reservoir fluids, discriminate their saturation levels and natural gas composition. Two case studies of the Lumshiwal Formation (mainly sandstone) of the Lower Cretaceous age have been studied from the Kohat Sub-basin and the Middle Indus Basin of Pakistan. The conventional angle-dependent reflection amplitudes such as P converted P ($R_{PP}$) and S ($R_{PS}$), S converted S ($R_{SS}$) and P ($R_{SP}$) and newly developed AVA attributes (${\Delta}R_{PP}$, ${\Delta}R_{PS}$, ${\Delta}R_{SS}$ and ${\Delta}R_{SP}$) are analyzed at different gas saturation levels in the reservoir rock. These attributes are generated by taking the differences between the water wet reflection coefficient and the reflection coefficient at unknown gas saturation. Intercept (A) and gradient (B) attributes are also computed and cross-plotted at different gas compositions and gas/water scenarios to define the AVO class of reservoir sands. The numerical simulation reveals that ${\Delta}R_{PP}$, ${\Delta}R_{PS}$, ${\Delta}R_{SS}$ and ${\Delta}R_{SP}$ are good indicators and able to distinguish low and high gas saturation with a high level of confidence as compared to conventional reflection amplitudes such as P-P, P-S, S-S and S-P. In A-B cross-plots, the gas lines move towards the fluid (wet) lines as the proportion of heavier gases increase in the Lumshiwal Sands. Because of the upper contacts with different sedimentary rocks (Shale/Limestone) in both wells, the same reservoir sand exhibits different response similar to AVO classes like class I and class IV. This study will help to analyze gas sands by using amplitude based attributes as direct gas indicators in further gas drilling wells in clastic successions.