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ABSTRACT: Shenhu area in South China Sea includes extensive collapse and diapir structures, forming high-angle faults and vertical fracture system, which functions as a fluid migration channel for gas hydrate formation. In order to improve the imaging precision of natural gas hydrate in this area, especially for fault and fracture structures, the present work propose a velocity stitching technique that accelerates effectively the convergence of the shallow seafloor, indicating seafloor horizon interpretation and the initial interval velocity for model building. In the depth domain, pre-stack depth migration and residual curvature are built into the model based on high-precision grid-tomography velocity inversion, after several rounds of tomographic iterations, as the residual velocity field converges gradually. Test results of the Shenhu area show that the imaging precision of the fault zone is obviously improved, the fracture structures appear more clearly, the wave group characteristics significantly change for the better and the signal-to-noise ratio and resolution are improved. These improvements provide the necessary basis for the new reservoir model and field drilling risk tips, help optimize the favorable drilling target, and are crucial for the natural gas resource potential evaluation.

ABSTRACT: The South China Sea (SCS) is the hotspot of geological scientific research and nature resource exploration and development due to the potential for enormous hydrocarbon resource development and a complex formation and evolution process. The SCS has experienced complex geological processes including continental lithospheric breakup, seafloor spreading and oceanic crust subduction, which leads debates for decades. However, there are still no clear answers regarding to the following aspects: the crustal and Moho structure, the structure of the continent-ocean transition zone, the formation and evolution process and geodynamic mechanism, and deep processes and their coupling relationships with the petroliferous basins in the SCS. Under the guidance of the “Deep-Earth” science and technology innovation strategy of the Ministry of Natural Resources, deep structural and comprehensive geological research are carried out in the SCS. Geophysical investigations such as long array-large volume deep reflection seismic, gravity, magnetism and ocean bottom seismometer are carried out. The authors proposed that joint gravity-magnetic-seismic inversion should be used to obtain deep crustal information in the SCS and construct high resolution deep structural sections in different regions of the SCS. This paper systematically interpreted the formation and evolution of the SCS and explored the coupling relationship between deep structure and evolution of Mesozoic-Cenozoic basins in the SCS. It is of great significance for promoting the geosystem scientific research and resource exploration of the SCS.

ABSTRACT: In May and July of 2017, China Geological Survey (CGS), and Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey (GMGS) carried out a production test of gas hydrate in the Shenhu area of the South China Sea and acquired a breakthrough of two months continuous gas production and nearly 3.1 × 105 m3 of production. The gas hydrate reservoir in the Shenhu area of China, is mainly composed of fine-grained clay silt with low permeability, and very difficult for exploitation, which is very different from those discovered in the USA, and Canada (both are conglomerate), Japan (generally coarse sand) and India (fracture-filled gas hydrate). Based on 3D seismic data preserved-amplitude processing and fine imaging, combined with logging-while-drilling (LWD) and core analysis data, this paper discusses the identification and reservoir characterization of gas hydrate orebodies in the Shenhu production test area. We also describe the distribution characteristics of the gas hydrate deposits and provided reliable data support for the optimization of the production well location. Through BSR feature recognition, seismic attribute analysis, model based seismic inversion and gas hydrate reservoir characterization, this paper describes two relatively independent gas hydrate orebodies in the Shenhu area, which are distributed in the north-south strip and tend to be thicker in the middle and thinner at the edge. The effective thickness of one orebody is bigger but the distribution area is relatively small. The model calculation results show that the distribution area of the gas hydrate orebody controlled by W18/W19 is about 11.24 km2, with an average thickness of 19 m and a maximum thickness of 39 m, and the distribution area of the gas hydrate orebody controlled by W11/W17 is about 6.42 km2, with an average thickness of 26 m and a maximum thickness of 90 m.