Hydrocarbon reservoir thickness resolution in 3D CSEM anisotropic inversion

Abstract

We describe a regularization approach to enhance hydrocarbon reservoir thickness imaging in anisotropic 3D inversion of controlled source electromagnetic (CSEM) data, utilizing measurements in the broadside source‐receiver in complement with in‐line configuration measurements. In order to capture the thickness information from the broadside measurements, model constraints are needed in anisotropic inversion to couple the vertical and horizontal resistivity components. The proposed regularization approach provides a priori constraints on the anisotropy factor. We present 3D inversion results that show how the regularization avoids unrealistic representation of a thin, isotropic reservoir response by a thick and strongly anisotropic resistor.