Inventors:
Douglas Francis Goff - Danville CA, US
Luc Vincent - Palo Alto CA, US
Kevin L. Deal - Houston TX, US
William S. Kowalik - La Habra Heights CA, US
Sebastien Bombarde - Oakland CA, US
Sandra Lee - Danville CA, US
William R. Volz - Katy TX, US
Richard C. Jones - Fullerton CA, US
Assignee:
Chevron U.S.A. Inc. - San Ramon CA
International Classification:
G01V 1/28
Abstract:
A computer implemented method for interpreting faults from a fault-enhanced 3-D seismic attribute cube. The method includes the steps of extracting faults from a 3-D seismic attribute cube, and of calculating a minimum path value for each voxel of the 3-D seismic attribute cube. A fault network skeleton is extracted from the 3-D seismic attribute cube by utilizing the minimum path values which correspond to voxels within the 3-D seismic attribute cube. The individual fault networks are then labeled, and a vector description of the fault network skeleton is created. The fault network skeleton is subdivided into individual fault patches wherein the individual fault patches are the smallest, non-intersecting, non-bifurcating patches that lie on only one geologic fault. The individual fault patches are then correlated into a representation of geologic faults.