Quantitative Seismic Interpretation Identifies Sweet Spots in Organic-Rich Mudrocks

Estimating the lateral heterogeneity of geochemical properties of organic-rich mudrocks is important for unconventional resource plays. Well-penetration data from emerging plays are sparse and so traditional geostatistical methods will not yield good results. In this study, the authors use a quantitative seismic interpretation work flow (QSI) based on a rock-physics template in estimating the uncertainty of the geochemical properties of organic mudrocks of the Shublik formation of the Alaskan North Slope. By combining the rock-physics template and the results of seismic inversion, multiple realizations of total organic content (TOC), matrix porosity, and brittleness index are generated.