Connecting the Dots between Geology and Seismic to Mitigate Drilling Risks: Mapping & Characterization of the High Pressure High Temperature Gotnia Formation in Kuwait
Authors: Kumar Rajive , Al-Mutairi T , Bansal P , Havelia Khushboo , Ben Amor Faical , Farhan Bassam , Ibrahim Aya , Aly Omar , Mukherjee Anubrati , Dayem Muhammad Abd El , Elsadany Karim 
Published: December 2021

As Kuwait focuses on developing the deep Jurassic reservoirs, the Gotnia Formation presents significant drilling challenges. It is the regional seal, consisting of alternating Salt and Anhydrite cycles, with over-pressured carbonate streaks, which are also targets for future exploration. The objective of this study was to unravel the Gotnia architecture, through detailed mapping of the intermediate cycles, mitigating drilling risks and characterizing the carbonate reservoirs.

A combination of noise attenuation, bandwidth extension and seismic adaptive wavelet processing (SAWP)) was applied on the seismic data, to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the seismic data between 50Hz to 70Hz and therefore reveal the Anhydrite cycles, which house the carbonate streaks. The Salt-Anhydrite cycles were correlated, using Triple Combo and Elastic logs, in seventy-six wells, and spatially interpreted on the band-limited P-impedance volume, generated through pre-stack inversion. Pinched out cycles were identified by integrating mud logs with seismic data and depositional trends. Pre-stack stochastic inversion was performed to map the thin carbonate streaks and characterize the carbonate reservoirs.

The improved seismic resolution resulted in superior results compared to the legacy cube and aided in enhancing the reflector continuity of Salt-Anhydrite cycles. In corroboration with the well data, three cycles of alternating salt and anhydrite, with varying thickness, were mapped. These cycles showed a distinctive impedance contrast and were noticeably more visible on the P-impedance volume, compared to the seismic amplitude volume. The second Anhydrite cycle was missing in some wells and the lateral extension of the pinch-outs was interpreted and validated based on the P-impedance volume. As the carbonate streaks were beyond the seismic resolution, they were not visible on the Deterministic P-impedance. The amount of thin carbonate streaks within the Anhydrite cycles could be qualitatively assessed based on the impedance values of the entire zone. Areas, within the zone, with a higher number of and more porous carbonate streaks displayed lowering of the overall impedance values in the Anhydrite zones, and could pose drilling risks. This information was used to guide the pre-stack stochastic inversion to populate the thin carbonate streaks and generate a high-resolution facies volume, through Bayesian Classification. Through this study, the expected cycles and over-pressured carbonate layers in the Gotnia formation were predicted, which can be used to plan and manage the drilling risks and reduce operational costs.

This study presents an integrated and iterative approach to interpretation, where the well log analysis, seismic inversion and horizon interpretation were done in parallel, to develop a better understanding of the sub-surface. This workflow will be especially useful for interpretation of over-pressured overburden zones or cap rocks, where the available log data can be limited.