A Successful Application of 3D Seismic

Attributes in Exploration for Eolian Stratigraphic

Traps in Central Saudi Arabia
Authors: Herbert Hu, Mohammed S. Al-Zahrani and Khalid A. Al-Mohmoud

ABSTRACT

GEOLOGICAL SETTING

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the successful application of 3D seismic attributes in exploration
for Permo-Carboniferous eolian stratigraphic traps in
central Saudi Arabia. To explore for these traps, we
have integrated regional geological studies and rock
property analysis, and tied these to the seismic attribute
response.
We carried out detailed well-to-seismic correlations
at the reservoir level and found that the following seismic
attributes were useful in exploring for these stratigraphyically trapped eolian reservoirs:

The study area is located in the central part of the

Arabian Plate, Fig. 1. In the Early Silurian, the sea level
rose due to deglaciation, and resulted in the widespread
deposition of the Qalibah formation. This upwardcoarsening, progradational formation consists of the
1
lower Qusaiba and the upper Sharawra members . At
the base of the Qusaiba member, organic rich shale
persists and is regionally correlatable. This shale, with its
distinctive high gamma ray signature, is referred to as
2
the hot shale . This matured hot shale multiple
charging presumably from a progressively maturing
Early Siluria kitchen to the south/southeast area may be
trapped in both the Unayzah A and B reservoirs.
During the Middle Carboniferous, much of Arabia
experienced tectonic uplift (the Hercynian event).
Erosion at this time resulted in the removal of varying
amounts of Early Carboniferous, Devonian, and Silurian
sediments. Following the Hercynian event, a Late
Carboniferous ice sheet covered much of southern
Arabia. As the ice sheet melted, braided stream sediments were deposited in parts of the arid glacial outwash
plain, along with isolated wadi fills (Unayzah C).
Contemporaneous deposits of lower energy braid
plain and meandering channel sediments, which make
up the Unayzah B were typically developed near the
base of the gently rising highland area abandoned by the
glaciers. The shoreline then retreated in the Early
Permian, leaving widespread deposits of P4-age silt and
shale in central Arabia, eventually resulting in a period of

Reservoir thickness and quality: (1) sum of

positive amplitude over the target interval, (2)
isochron from Early Triassic to Early Permian,
(3) isochron from top to base of the target, (4)
frequency decomposition, (5) acoustic
impedance inversion, and (6) deformation of
seismic wavelet.
Up-dip seal: Sum of the negative amplitude over
the target interval.
Hydrocarbon potential: Amplitude vs. offset/
amplitude vs. angle (AVO/AVA) inversion.

Exploration results in the study area indicate that the

previously mentioned seismic attributes correlate very
well to changes in the geologic environment, and to the
log and reservoir properties. The integration of 3D
seismic attributes with regional geologic studies and
existing well control has been very successful in
exploring for eolian stratigraphic traps in central Saudi
Arabia.

INTRODUCTION
We will demonstrate the successful application of 3D
seismic attributes used in the exploration for PermoCarboniferous eolian stratigraphic traps in central Saudi
Arabia. To explore for these traps, we integrated
regional geological studies and rock property analysis,
and tied these to the seismic attribute response. The
integration of 3D seismic attributes with regional
geologic studies and existing well control has been very
successful in exploring for eolian stratigraphic traps in
central Saudi Arabia.

Fig. 1. Location map of study area.

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sediment bypass and non-deposition known as the preUnayzah unconformity (or PUU, sometimes called the
failed breakup unconformity).
Central Arabian sedimentation after the PUU came
in the form of eolian and (ephemeral) braided stream
systems, in addition to extensive playa lakes that
accumulated large amounts of red silt (similar to the
earlier, P4-age silt). Collectively termed the Unayzah A,
these deposits were followed by a lengthy period of nondeposition represented by the pre-Khuff unconformity (or
PKU). The area accumulated its final alluvial strata in the
Late Permian, when transgressive Basal Khuff filled in
the valleys that had been incised during the preceding
3
hiatus .
As a result of the complex interplay of these continental depositional environments and the numerous
unconformities present in the section, unraveling
Unayzah stratigraphy can be quite challenging. In the
region of the study area, the Unayzah consists of possible Unayzah A, B and C, overlain by sands and silts,
and capped in places by Basal Khuff deposits, Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Stratigraphical column of Carboniferous and Permian of

Central Arabia.

OBJECTIVES
Permo-Carboniferous eolian reservoirs are the primary
objective for oil and gas exploration in central Saudi
Arabia. Due to the nature of the mixed fluvio-eolian
setting, this is a very challenging target, especially for
stratigraphic traps. The eolian setting comprises a
complex mix of depositional systems, including eolian
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ergs, ephemeral streams, and ephemeral (playa) lakes.

Eolian sand dunes and sand sheet deposits are the two
main reservoir facies, while lateral facies changes to the
playa lake deposit result in the primary up-dip seals.

3D SEISMIC ATTRIBUTES ANALYSIS AND

APPLICATION
There are a plenty of seismic attributes that can be
extracted from 3D seismic volume by using commercial
or in-house software, but the most import thing is that to
find the attributes that have good correlation between
the geological models, drilling results and geophysical
models are important. First, we carried out a detailed
regional geological study including reservoir correlation,
depositional environment study, and present day analog.
Based on the detailed regional study, we then established a reservoir geological model for our target, Fig. 3.
As discussed in the previous paragraph, our target is the
eolian setting with mainly dune, inter-dune as a
reservoir, and the playa facies as up-dip lateral seal.
When this rock was buried, it produced differential
compression features and this feature is reflected on the
seismic data. The attributes of isochrones in different
horizons are good attributes to image of the reservoir
fairway. The dune and inter-dune faces are quartz
prone, which has a solid rock framework that is resistant
to upload pressure, and playa faces are clay and are silt
prone, which is easy to compress from the overload
pressure.

Fig. 3. Geological models for target zone showing the

differential compressional effects for both reservoir and nonreservoir.

Using the seismic well tie approach, the well log

data ties to the reflection seismic indicate that there is
strong positive amplitude in the dune reservoir development while there are strong negative amplitude images
in the playa development, Fig. 4. Based on the well-toseismic correlations at the reservoir level, it was found
that the following seismic attributes were useful in
exploring for these stratigraphically trapped eolian
reservoirs:

This is Saudi Arabias seismic polarity, from hard to soft is positive amplitude and from soft to hard is
negative amplitude. The dominant frequency is from 20 Hz to 35 Hz.
Fig. 4. Geophysical models and well synthetic-well tie for both eolian reservoir and non-reservoir playa of target zone.

Fig. 5. Sum of negative amplitude over the Unayzah A interval (16-millisecond window below the zero-crossing of the Base Khuff
Carbonate). The strong negative amplitude is interpreted to be indicative of impermeable (tight) Unayzah A playa siltstone.

Reservoir thickness and quality: (1) sum of

positive amplitude over the target interval, (2)
isochron from Early Triassic to Early Permian,
(3) isochron from top to base of the target, (4)
frequency decomposition, (5) acoustic imped-

ance inversion, and (6) deformation of seismic

wavelet.
Up-dip seal: Sum of the negative amplitude over
the target interval.
Hydrocarbon potential: AVO/AVA inversion.

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Exploration results in the study area indicate that the

previously mentioned seismic attributes correlate very
well to changes in geologic environment, and to log and
reservoir properties. Figure 5 shows the sum of negative
amplitude, which is one of the applications of the mentioned attributes over the target zone. The cool color is
the strong negative amplitude, which is interpreted to be
developed non-reservoir playa facies, which act as an
up-dip seal for the reservoir. It indicates a good correlation between drilling results and seismic attributes
interpretation.

SUMMARY
Although the exploration for potential eolian setting
stratigraphical traps is very challenging, the integration
of 3D seismic attribute analysis incorporated with
regional geologic study and existing well control has
been proven a successful approach in exploring for
eolian stratigraphic traps in central Saudi Arabia.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Saudi Aramco
management for permission to publish this article.

BIOGRAPHIES
Herbert Hu is a Geophysical Specialist
in Saudi Aramcos Eastern Area
Exploration Department focusing on
the oil and gas of the Paleozoic
reservoirs in Central Saudi Arabia. His
previous experience includes work at
the China National Petroleum
Cooperation (CNPC) domestic projects
for more than 10 years and international projects for 5
years in Caracas, Venezuela. Herbert also worked for
Ventura Energy Inc. for 4 years in Calgary, Canada, and
2 years for PETRONAS in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
before he joined Saudi Aramco in 2007.
He received his B.S. degree in Oil and Gas
Exploration Geology from Jianghan Petroleum
University, Jingzhou, China, in 1985. Herbert is a
certified Professional Geologist of the Association of
Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta
(APEGGA), Canada.
He is a member of the European Association of
Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE), the American
Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), the
Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) and the Dhahran
Geoscience Society (DGS).

REFERENCES
1. Mahmoud, M.D., Vaslet, D. and Husseini, M.I.: The
Lower Silurian Qalibah Formation of Saudi Arabia Important Hydrocarbon Source Rock, American
Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, Vol.
76, October 1992, pp. 1491-1506.
2. McGillivray, J.G. and Husseini, M.I.: The Paleozoic
Petroleum Geology of Central Arabia, American
Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, Vol.
76, October 1992, pp. 1473-1490.
3. Price, R.J. and Fell, D.R.: An Atlas of PermoCarboniferous (Unayzah/Gharif Paleogeographic
Maps), Saudi Aramco internal publication, Job J2714, 2008.

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Mohammed S. Al-Zahrani is a
Geological Consultant at Saudi
Aramco, with 23 years of experience in
exploration, mainly in the areas of
prospects generator and play concepts
evaluation.
He is an active member of
European Association of Geoscientists
and Engineers (EAGE).
In 1985, Mohammed received his B.S. degree in
Petroleum Geology from King Abdulaziz University in
Jiddah, Saudi Arabia.

Khalid A. Al-Mahmoud is a Geologist

in Saudi Aramcos Eastern Area
Exploration Department. He has 15
years of work experience in exploration
with Saudi Aramco, mainly prospects
generation and play concepts
evaluation. Prior to this, Khalid worked
at the King Abdulaziz City for Science
and Technology (KACST) as an Academic Researcher.
He received his B.S. degree in Geology from King
Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 1996.
Khalid is an active member of European Association
of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE) and the
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG).