Rock physics evaluation of deepwater reservoirs, West Africa

Summary In this paper we discuss a workflow for rock physics evaluation of a deepwater turbidite offshore Angola. This includes data conditioning, anisotropy correction and fluid substitution with special focus on thinly bedded sand-shale sequences, in which laminations are often if not always ignored. We also discuss a stochastic rock physics workflow and tools we have implemented for facies classification to translate inverted acoustic impedance and Vp/Vs volumes into probabilities of occurrence of shales, hydrocarbon sands, wet sands, gravels and silt. This workflow has proven critical in our reservoir characterization efforts, both for exploration and development projects worldwide.