Spatial orientation and distribution of reservoir fractures from scattered seismic energy

We present the details of a new method for determining the reflection and scattering characteristics of seismic energy from subsurface fractured formations. The method is based upon observations we have made from 3D finite-difference modeling of the reflected and scattered seismic energy over discrete systems of vertical fractures. Regularly spaced, discrete vertical fracture corridors impart a coda signature, which is a ringing tail of scattered energy, to any seismic waves which are transmitted through or reflected off of them. This signature varies in amplitude and coherence as a function of several parameters including: (1) the difference in angle between the orientation of the fractures and the acquisition direction, (2) the fracture spacing, (3) the wavelength of the illuminating seismic energy, and (4) the compliance, or stiffness, of the fractures. This coda energy is most coherent when the acquisition direction is parallel to the strike of the fractures. It has the largest amplitude when the seismic wavelengths are tuned to the fracture spacing, and when the fractures have low stiffness. Our method uses surface seismic reflection traces to derive a transfer function that quantifies the change in an apparent source wavelet before and after propagating through a fractured interval. The transfer function for an interval with no or low amounts of scattering will be more spikelike and temporally compact. The transfer function for an interval with high scattering will ring and be less temporally compact. When a 3D survey is acquired with a full range of azimuths, the variation in the derived transfer functions allows us to identify subsurface areas with high fracturing and to determine the strike of those fractures. We calibrated the method with model data and then applied it to the Emilio field with a fractured reservoir. The method yielded results which agree with known field measurements and previously published fracture orientations derived from PS anisotropy.