Introduction

A key challenge faced by geoscientists is to establish and validate the economic potential of a hydrocarbon exploration play using seismic amplitudes. This validation requires the development and implementation of interpretation techniques for calibrating rock properties to seismic data. Quantitative seismic interpretation techniques have been applied with frequent success to predict lithology and fluids in areas with extensive local well control (Avseth et al., 2005). The application of the same techniques is problematic in frontier basins where the nearest well control is some distance away. The main reason is that when interpretation techniques are extrapolated outside their original range of calibration, seismic anomalies cannot be reliably recognized, predicted, and validated.

Validation of recognized seismic anomalies comprises two stages (a) rock-physics-based modeling for amplitude calibration described in this chapter, followed by (b) detailed amplitude interpretation and risk analysis (Chapter 12). This integrated methodology for regional exploration combines rock physics modeling and seismic-based evaluation techniques, allowing the seismic interpreter to predict, quantify, and extrapolate seismic response changes by linking them to rock-property variations and plausible geologic scenarios. This method includes examination of depositional and diagenetic processes to understand the effects of geology on seismic responses as well as possible differences between the interpretation model at the current prospect and that established elsewhere using well control and other known inputs.