SEISMIC MODELING OF HETEROGENEITY SCALES OF GAS HYDRATE RESERVOIRS ...

• Main Authors: Huang, Jun-Wei, Bellefleur, Gilles, Milkereit, Bernd
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: The University of British Columbia 2008
• Subjects: Mackenzie Delta; Northwest Territories; permafrost
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0040992; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0040992

The presence of gas hydrates in permafrost regions has been confirmed by core samples recovered from the Mallik gas hydrate research wells located within Mackenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Strong vertical variations of compressional and shear velocities and weak surface seismic expressions of gas hydrates indicate that lithological heterogeneities control the lateral distribution of gas hydrates. Seismic scattering studies predict that typical horizontal scales and strong velocity contrasts due to gas hydrate concentration will generate strong forward scattering, leaving only weak energy to be captured by surface receivers. In order to understand the distribution of gas hydrates and the scattering effects on seismic waves, heterogeneous petrophysical reservoir models were constructed based on the P-wave and S-wave velocity logs. Random models with pre-determined heterogeneity scales can also be used to simulate permafrost interval as well as sediments without hydrates. Using the ...