Determination of formation shear attenuation from dipole sonic log data

TitleDetermination of formation shear attenuation from dipole sonic log data
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2019
AuthorsQi, Q, Cheng, A, Li, YElita
JournalGEOPHYSICS
Volume8454
Issue3
PaginationD73 - D79
Date PublishedNov-05-2019
ISSN0016-8033
Abstract

Formation S-wave attenuation, when combined with compressional attenuation, serves as a potential hydrocarbon indicator for seismic reservoir characterization. Sonic flexural wave measurements provide a direct means for obtaining the in situ S-wave attenuation at log scale. The key characteristic of the flexural wave is that it propagates at the formation shear slowness and experiences shear attenuation at low frequency. However, in a fast formation, the dipole log consists of refracted P- and S-waves in addition to the flexural wave. The refracted P-wave arrives early and can be removed from the dipole waveforms through time windowing. However, the refracted S-wave, which is often embedded in the flexural wave packet, is difficult to separate from the dipole waveforms. The additional energy loss associated with the refracted S-wave results in the estimated dipole attenuation being higher than the shear attenuation at low frequency. To address this issue, we have developed a new method for accurately determining the formation shear attenuation from the dipole sonic log data. The method uses a multifrequency inversion of the frequency-dependent flexural wave attenuation based on energy partitioning. We first developed our method using synthetic data. Application to field data results in a shear attenuation log that is consistent with lithologic interpretation of other available logs.

URLhttps://library.seg.org/doi/10.1190/geo2018-0006.1
DOI10.1190/geo2018-0006.1
Short TitleGEOPHYSICS