Fugro-Jason confirmed that findings from a recent study of the Malay Basin offshore the Gulf of Thailand have been confirmed by six wells drilled subsequent to the study. Fugro-Jason’s deterministic reservoir characterization software was used in the interpretation and analysis of thin hydrocarbon reservoirs. Seismic data and well logs were also part of the analysis, which accurately determined the location and extent of hydrocarbons.

“Traditional seismic interpretation methods could easily result in incorrect conclusions with this kind of reservoir,” said Eric Adams, Fugro-Jason’s managing director. “In fact, fluid predictions before Fugro-Jason’s seismic inversion were quite different from the study findings. The presence of gas and an underlying coal layer also caused interpretation uncertainty in the original seismic reflection data. This ambiguity was removed by the Fugro-Jason RockTraceTM process. Precision was particularly critical because our client planned to place horizontal wells into the thin oil leg, which is only 12 m (39 ft) thick.”

Three exploratory wells were included in the study, and each encountered fluvial channel sandstone. Retrieved cores demonstrated that the sandstone was of good quality. Logging suites, including shear sonic data, were used in conjunction with seismic data as key input for determining rock properties. Analysis showed sufficient vertical resolution in the logs to differentiate gas, oil, brine, sandstone and shale. Two appraisal and four horizontal development wells drilled after the study matched new predictions of sand and fluid distribution.