Exploration  and  Production 
Technical  Training  Seminars

Dr. D. Bradford Macurda, Jr.

Course Objectives and Items You Will Learn About:

• To use seismic facies analysis to evaluate and interpret a volume of seismic data to recognize diverse stratigraphic play opportunities.

• The geological significance of reflection configurations and what environments they represent.

• Depositional models and how to test and map them in seismic data.

• How to prepare environmental and lithofacies maps from seismic facies maps.

• Geological processes operating in a variety of environments.

• How to improve the geological predictions of plays and prospects.

The course is primarily a workshop.  The initial discussions review stratigraphic concepts and then apply these to outcrops in the Grand Canyon of Arizona to compare sequences and environments recognized in the field with comparative resolution in seismic data.  The problem of scale is addressed.  This is followed by a discussion of what are seismic facies (reflection configuration, amplitude, frequency, and continuity).  These are illustrated through numerous illustrations from CDP record sections from diverse environments. Participants then apply these ideas to unraveling the geological history of a thermal sag basin with a broad spectrum of environments.  Source, seal, and reservoir potential of each unit differentiated are predicted and then compared to well data.

Three detailed problems follow.  The first focuses on a submarine fan.  Seismic facies variations are mapped to predict sand prone intervals.  Comparative ideas on modern submarine fans are introduced and utilized.  The second problem deals with shallow water siliciclastics and the recognition of a variety of systems tracts in the seismic data and the relevant lithofacies predictions.  Different models are compared and evaluated.  Modern environments are discussed and compared.  The third problem focuses on the evolution of a carbonate margin.  A variety of carbonate facies and environments are shown and prospected.

In addition to data sets used for interpretation, numerous other seismic lines are used to show comparative environments in other settings. The bottom line for each problem undertaken is to predict drilling locations.

The Advanced Seismic Facies Interpretation Workshop offers an opportunity to interpret a company's data, using the principles of sequence and facies analysis to solve exploration-exploitation interpretation problems.  The workshop uses either traditional paper copies and/or workstation technology.  The intent of this workshop is:

• To provide continued training and reinforcement in the concepts and techniques of seismic facies analysis and other stratigraphic and sedimentary ideas.  The purpose of this is to extract the maximum amount of geological information from the seismic and well data, and apply it to exploration and production problems.

• To analyze proprietary data belonging to a company; and evaluate plays, produce prospects, and solve reservoir problems.

The direction of the workshop is straightforward.  The Exploration Manager, Chief or District Geophysicist and I review the data from the area in question to determine its suitability for this type of analysis.  It is requested that a portion or all of the data be sent to me approximately 30-45 days prior to the workshop, so a preliminary interpretation and design of the workshop can be developed.  Then, four-to-ten interpreters and I spend a week with the seismic, well and biostratigraphic data to generate an integrated interpretation.  Prior participation in a Seismic Facies Analysis seminar is helpful so that work can proceed at a rapid pace.  We present the results to management on the afternoon of the last day of the workshop with our bottom line recommendations on the plays, proposed prospects, and reservoir geology.

These workshops have been conducted on foreign and domestic projects for many companies.  Internationally, I have presented numerous workshops, which involve many locations of Central and South America, Northwestern Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.  In the U.S., projects have focused on the Williston, Powder River, and Green River basins, Northwest Colorado, Tatum Basin, Permian Basin, Arkoma Basin, South Texas, and offshore in the Gulf and in California.  The results have been of positive benefit to the companies in their exploration/production efforts and the explorationists have continued to successfully apply the concepts and procedures to their endeavors.  Quite a few interpreters have participated in several workshops with me over the years, and I have watched their growth and development accelerate because of this experience.

The course is primarily a workshop.  The instructor introduces the basic concept that carbonates are fundamentally different rocks than siliciclastics, since they are produced in the basin in which they are found rather than being externally derived.  The carbonate producers have changed markedly during geologic time, and diagenetic changes are extremely important in forming reservoirs.  Initial discussions focus on modern carbonate environments and outcrop examples of carbonates from the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic.  As problems on each carbonate environment are introduced, the instructor reviews the stratigraphy and sedimentology of the modern environments and examples of the occurrence of hydrocarbons in ancient analogs.  The initial workshop focuses on a ramp environment, followed by problems in seismic sequence analysis and facies analysis in shelf, shelf margin, and slope-basin plain environments.  In each problem, drilling locations must be proposed.

                            The fourth day of the workshop is "options day".  Five different data sets from North America, South America, Africa, and Europe are made available to "bid on".  Successful teams must analyze the stratigraphy and facies of the carbonates in the areas and propose drilling locations.  Where available, wells evaluate the prospects.  Day five is chalk day.  The data sets focus on the chalks of the North Sea, first on the area of chalk production, then of ultimate deposition and the hydrocarbons reservoired within.  Facies interpretation is used to predict new drilling locations.

Duration:      Five days

Attendees:   Experienced Interpreters and Carbonate Enthusiasts