Practical Aspects of Seismic Sequence Stratigraphy (Applications to Hydrocarbon Exploration/Production)

Since the late 1980s, the sequence stratigraphic method has become a critical tool for hydrocarbon exploration/development projects in many frontier and mature sedimentary basins. The successful application of this method with high resolution 3D seismic data and well data is particularly important in frontier and deepwater areas, where exploration risk and capital commitment are high. Many international major and national oil companies have been using sequence stratigraphic approach as one of the main interpretation tools for the evaluation of their high impact projects. Applied correctly, this integrated interpretation method is a powerful tool that can be used to unravel the complex stratigraphy of a given basin and to dramatically increase overall understanding of various depositional models for both siliciclastic and carbonate systems.