Amplitude variation with offset and azimuth inversion to predict and evaluate coal seam fracture parameters

Abstract

Amplitude variation with offset and azimuth (AVOA) inversion is a mainstream method for predicting and evaluating fracture parameters of conventional oil and gas reservoirs. However, its application to coal seams is limited because of the specificity of the equivalent media model for coal—also, the traditional seismic acquisition system employed in coal fields falls within a narrow azimuth. In this study, we initially derived a P‒P wave reflection coefficient approximation formula for coal seams, which is directly expressed in terms of fracture parameters using the Schoenberg linear-slide model and Hudson model. We analyzed the P‒P wave reflection coefficient’s response to the fracture parameters using a two-layer forward model. Accordingly, we designed a two-step inversion workflow for AVOA inversion of the fracture parameters. Thereafter, high-density wide-azimuth pre-stack 3D seismic data were utilized for inverting the fracture density and strike of the target coal seam. The inversion accuracy was constrained by Student’s t-distribution testing. The analysis and validation of the inversion results revealed that the relative fracture density corresponds to fault locations, with the strike of the fractures and faults mainly at 0°. Therefore, the AVOA inversion method and technical workflow proposed here can be used to efficiently predict and evaluate fracture parameters of coal seams.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

equivalent media model / fracture density and strike / azimuth / Student’s t-distribution

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Acknowledgments

We thank Yaping Huang for his comments on this manuscript. This work was supported by the University Synergy Innovation Program of Anhui Province (Nos. GXXT-2021-016 and GXXT-2019-029), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41902167), and the Institute of Energy, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center (No. 21KZS215).

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