SUGGESTED WORKFLOWS USING MOVE FOR STRUCTURAL RESTORATION WHEN SALT IS PRESENT: AN EXAMPLE FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO

Structural restoration and balancing are commonly used in the oil and gas industry to test different interpretations and investigate the geological evolution of an area in order to better understand the prospectivity of a petroleum play. The presence of salt in a basin significantly increases the uncertainty in any structural restoration and poses a number of unique challenges. However, many of these challenges can be negated or reduced by developing a suitable workflow and carefully considering its implications and limitations.

In this context, we have developed an idealized workflow using Move to perform 2D and 3D structural restoration when salt is present. In general, the workflow involves backstripping, isostatic adjustment and restoring horizons to a regional level; this process can easily be adjusted depending on the purpose of the restoration and the data available. A key advantage of the workflow is that it can be performed quickly, allowing different scenarios to be rapidly tested and evaluated. To illustrate the power of the restoration workflow and its potential for the oil and gas industry, it has been applied to the West Bison field in the Gulf of Mexico. In this simple example, the restoration workflow was tailored to investigate the basin architecture and distribution of sedimentation through time, with a view to supplying constraints for hydrocarbon maturation and migration models. The restoration reveals that the dynamic interaction between salt and sediment has caused the geometry of the basin to vary significantly through time.

BP is acknowledged for its contribution.