High-resolution reservoir characterization using deep learning aided elastic full-waveform inversion: The North Sea field data example

Reservoir characterization is an essential component of oil and gas production, as well as exploration. Classic reservoir characterization algorithms, both deterministic and stochastic, are typically based on stacked images and rely on simplifications and approximations to the subsurface (e.g., assuming linearized reflection coefficients). Elastic full-waveform inversion, which aims to match the waveforms of pre-stack seismic data, potentially provide more accurate high-resolution reservoir characterization from seismic data. However, full-waveform inversion can easily fail to characterize deep-buried reservoirs due to illumination limitations. We present a deep learning aided elastic full-waveform inversion strategy using observed seismic data and available well logs in the target area. Five facies are extracted from the well and then connected to the inverted P- and S-wave velocities using trained neural networks, which correspond to the subsurface facies distribution. Such a distribution is further converted to the desired reservoir-related parameters such as velocities and anisotropy parameters using a weighted summation. Finally, we update these estimated parameters by matching the resulting simulated wavefields to the observed seismic data, which corresponds to another round of elastic full-waveform inversion aided by the a priori knowledge gained from the predictions of machine learning. A North Sea field data example, the Volve Oil Field data set, indicates that the use of facies as prior helps resolve the deep-buried reservoir target better than the use of only seismic data.