Unlocking Indias Tight Reservoirs with Rock Physics, Case Study: Krishna-Godavari Basin, India

Anil Malkani*, Ray McClenaghan, Sudhir Mathur, Bikashkali Jana and Pinakadhar Mohapatra, Cairn India Ltd.


Summary

The main objective of the rock physics study reported here was to derive a methodology to map the extent of the reservoir in
order to reduce the sub-surface uncertainties for forthcoming field appraisal campaign in Krishna-Godavari basin. The study also
includes the effect of different fluid substitutions on seismic amplitudes and has been demonstrated to discriminate lithology and
fluids. This paper illustrates why rock characterisation studies are integral within field development and exploration studies, and
how integration studies which include rock physics, petro-physics, seismic and geological can help the subsurface technical
community to fully delineate reservoir and non-reservoir zones within tight reservoir formations.

Introduction

The block KG-ONN-2003/1 is an onshore block located in south-western part of the Krishna-Godavari Basin, India (Figure 1).
The block was awarded to the consortium of Cairn India and ONGC with Cairn India as Operator. The JV has made two
discoveries in the block in two early Cretaceous sandstone sequences, the Raghavapuram Formation sandstones and the deeper
Golapalli Formation sandstones. The first discovery well-A was drilled based on 3D seismic data in year 2010. Well-A
encountered both the Raghavapuram Formation and the Golapalli Formation sandstone reservoir units at depths shallower than
4000m. Both these Cretaceous sandstone packages are very low permeability. Petrography of core material coupled with routine
core analysis demonstrates that a combination of mechanical compaction and clay authigenesis have dramatically reduced
porosities and permeability. However, the quality of discovered oil is excellent, being a light 51
o
API crude with excellent
mobility. The Raghavapuram Formation sands were deposited as turbidites in marine embayment and are separated by a low
impedance shale unit overlying the very thick Golapalli Formation sandstones which are interpreted from the limited core data
available as fluvial deposits and are comparatively tighter than the shallower Raghavapuram Formation sandstones.

Figure 1: Location map of the block KG-ONN-2003/, eastern onshore India, KG Basin.

Rock Physics

Forward and Fluid Scenario Modelling

Gassmann fluid substitution has been performed to create different fluid scenarios in Well-A (Figure 2). To match the seismic
frequency, a Ricker wavelet with 15Hz dominant frequency and SEG normal polarity (increase in acoustic impedance is peak and
represented in blue colour) has been used to create the AvO synthetics. The objective was to study the impact of oil & brine
scenarios on the acoustic logs and hence on seismic amplitudes (Figure 2). The reservoir rocks are moderately sensitive to fluid
change. 12m thick Raghavapuram Formation sandstones show Class IIP type AvO behaviour with polarity reversal whereas
much thicker Golapalli Formation sandstones show Class-I AvO responses. There is a strong peak reflector resulting at the
interface of the anomalously low impedance shale and tight reservoir sand unit below it which is also corroborated with surface
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Rock Physics Unlocking Indias Tight Reservoirs
seismic data. Bright peak trough doublet at a regional reflector is corresponding to brine whereas dimmed peak trough
doublet, is due to hydrocarbon response (highlighted by orange colour in gather panels, Figure 2).

Figure 2: Well composite display showing the fluid scenario modelling; observe the varying seismic response for the oil and
brine scenarios.

Lithology & Fluid Discrimination

Blocky AvO modelling of the anomalous shale overlying the Golapalli Formation sandstones results in a Class-I AvO response
(Figure 4a). Brine shows the brightest amplitudes compared to oil and gas sands. On the AvO plot, oil and gas scenarios show the
similar amplitude responses as the oil is highly volatile and very light with GOR 3000scf/bbl. The acoustic impedance of the
shale is generally overlapping with the sand except for the anomalous shale (Figure 2). Raghavapuram Formation sandstones
overlap with shale on P-impedance and cannot be discriminated whereas Golapalli Formation sandstones are tight and P-
impedance along with depth can discriminate these sands from overlying soft shale. Also, Vp/Vs along with P-impedance can
successfully discriminate the lithology and partly fluid (Figure 3). Vp/Vs values greater than ~1.7 are more likely to be from
shale, with values less than ~1.7 from sand (Figure 3a).
a) b)

Figure 3: Lithology and fluid discrimination at log resolution.

The soft sands with relatively higher porosities are moderately sensitive to fluid change whereas tight sands are least sensitive to
fluid change (Figure 3b). Figure 3 provides the encouragement to extend this rock physics study to include simultaneous
inversion of the seismic data in order to have V
p
/V
s
and P-impedance volumes to map the reservoirs. Normalized dry rock
modulus vs porosity plot suggest that relatively soft sands have low normalized bulk modulus (K
dry
/K
min
) compared to tighter
sands and lies on wider lines of constant pore space stiffness and hence relatively sensitive to fluid change (Mavko et al., 1998;
Avseth et al., 2005) (Figure 4b).
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Rock Physics Unlocking Indias Tight Reservoirs
a) b)

Figure 4: Left showing the blocky AvO model of the Golapalli reservoirs whereas right showing the fluid
sensitiveness of the sands.

Inversion Results

Following the successful feasibility study pre-stack seismic data was inverted to deliver the V
p
/V
s
and P-impedance volumes. The
Pre-stack time migrated (PSTM) data used for inversion was fair to good quality with a dominant frequency around 15 Hz.
Although the seismic data was deprived of high frequencies, it was sufficient to resolve the thick Golapalli reservoir sands
(300m) The low V
p
/V
s
ratio (~1.55 to 1.65) is related to the hydrocarbon bearing Golapalli sand at the Well-A. The V
p
/V
s
is
comparatively higher (~1.7) at Well-B with minimal hydrocarbon shows, probably attributable to hydrocarbon escaped via a
nearby fault (Figure 5). Low V
p
/V
s
is observed on either side of the well-B.




Figure 5. Vp/Vs profile passing
through the Well-A, Well-B and
proposed Well-C location.
Figure 6: Blind well test of
Vp/Vs at proposed location
Well-C; notice the good match
at Golapalli and Raghavapuram
reservoirs.
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Rock Physics Unlocking Indias Tight Reservoirs
Although, the inversion was carried before drilling the appraisal well, it shows a good match at well locations with low V
p
/V
s

(~1.58) which is related to hydrocarbon presence. This well encountered more than 300m thick Golapalli Formation sandstones
and 20m thick Raghavapuram hydrocarbon bearing reservoir intervals. One area of concern with the final inversion model is a
high V
p
/V
s
zone within the Golapalli Formation sandstones which could be attributed noise still contained within the seismic data
set.



Conclusions

It is evident from the presented QI work that integration of rock physics, seismic and petro-physics can be used to delineate the
reservoirs even in a Class-I AVO type of scenario where sands are tight and difficult to characterize.

At log resolution, V
p
/V
s
along with P-impedance was able to discriminate the lithology and to an extent, the fluid type and hence
can be used as a reservoir predictive tool. The inverted seismic data sets provide confident indications of fluids, as expressed by
the hydrocarbons encountered by Well-A and Well-C, with only minimal hydrocarbon shows encountered by Well-B. Due to the
good correlation between the inverted rock physics results and well log data, inverted volumes can be used as an effective
development tool, to reducing sub-surface uncertainties for reservoir characterization, and optimising forthcoming field
development campaigns.

Acknowledgements

This work has been benefited from direct contribution and numerous discussions with many Cairn colleagues, especially Surabhi
Mishra, Prof. Stuart Burley and Cathal Daly. We thank to the management of Cairn India and those of our co-ventures for
support and for permission to publish this work.




Figure 7: Average Vp/Vs
horizon slice measured
within 6ms window at the
Golapalli reservoirs.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1190/segam2013-0819.1

EDITED REFERENCES
Note: This reference list is a copy-edited version of the reference list submitted by the author. Reference lists for the 2013
SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts have been copy edited so that references provided with the online metadata for
each paper will achieve a high degree of linking to cited sources that appear on the Web.

REFERENCES
Avseth, P., T. Mukerji, and G. Mavko, 2005, Quantitative seismic interpretation: Cambridge University
Press.
Mavko, G., T. Mukerji, and J. Dvorkin, 1998, The handbook of rock physics: Cambridge University
Press.
Simm, R., 2007, Practical Gassmann fluid substitution in sand/shale sequences: First Break, 25, 6168.
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1190/segam2013-0819.1 2013 SEG
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