Seismic reservoir characterization in resource shale plays: Stress analysis and sweet spot discrimination

Surface seismic data have proven to be an invaluable asset for organizations producing hydrocarbons from unconventional resource plays. Initially, a primary benefit of surface seismic was the ability to locate and avoid drilling into zones with faults, fractures, and karsting which adversely affected the ability to complete the well successfully. More recent advances in prestack seismic data analysis yield attributes that appear to be correlated to formation lithology, rock strength, and stress fields. Knowledge and proper utilization of these attributes may prove valuable in the optimization of drilling and completion activities.