Herbas, Javier, 2009, Identification of potential reservoir sands within the Torok Formation in a northern portion of the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska: Montreal, Quebec, Canada, McGill University, M.S. thesis, 149 p., illust., maps.
This thesis examines the seismic responses of potential hydrocarbon-charged sandstone reservoirs in the Torok Formation in a northern portion of the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska (NPRA). By integrating wireline logs, 3D seismic data, seismic attributes and modeling, I show that the most prospective sandstones are those characterized by a decrease in their p-wave, an increase in their s-wave, a suggested increase in porosity (by the density wireline log), and a decrease in Poisson's ratio, which causes AVO anomalies Class II and III. Similar to other sandstones deposited in turbidite channels in the NPRA, some of these potentially porous Lower Torok sandstones show an increase in their absolute amplitude values with an increasing offset (negative gradient) and a negative or positive intercept. This work suggests that those amplitude anomalous responses could be due to the presence of fluid-saturated sandstones, which cause the decrease and corresponding increase in p- and s-waves that result in a low Poisson's ratio and in the definition of the Class II and III AVO anomalies.
Theses and Dissertations
